01x10: Dark deeds
by Gabrielle Henson
Summary: - 10th episode in a series - Having settled near Trillium Lake, Oregon, for a few days they hope to be peaceful, Faith and Tara meet Kira, another Slayer...
1. Teaser

_Disclaimer : Everyone knows who own Buffy and co ! Obviously, it's not me!_

_ The story is the tenth episode in a series called 'Rocky path' that begins around one year after 'Chosen'_

_( I strongly recommand to read the 9 first episodes to understand that one) _

_You can check the series out on my website. (see the url in my profile)  
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_I know it's been a very long wait, but here it finally comes! Please let me know what you think._

_(Note that only the three first parts have alredy been beta-read but I couldn't wait any longer to publish! So well, you've been warned...)_

_Enjoy!  
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The sun prepared to rise above Oregon on a cold winter morning. The horizon started to clear, slowly turning from black to a pale smoky grey.

An owl hooted in the distance.

The bird having settled on a branch of a tree apparently guarded the entrance of a small, seemingly abandoned cemetery. Weeds had grown all over the place, almost hiding the decrepit tombstones and covering much of the paths between them.

Obviously, the dead here weren't used to having visitors.

Smothered screams and crashing sounds disturbed the quiet of the impending morning. The owl flew over the tiny cemetery, curious to know where the noise came from. The bird found the answer in the far rear of the graveyard where old abandoned crypts stood, all their past glory long gone. The owl landed on the half-collapsed roof and tried to find a way in to quench its curiosity.

Inside the small structure, a group of vampires gathered. Four of those dangerous predators were bending over a figure they held captive. Their prey that night was a young woman in her early twenties, with curly brown hair, dark eyes and long thin muscles. Her hair was tousled hair and her nose slightly bleeding but apart from that, she looked rather healthy.

For the moment.

She wasn't fighting her aggressors and her exposed neck caused cruel greedy smiles to cross their features.

"Told you it wasn't worth fighting," one of the vampires told. "Told you we would win in the end."

A half smile crept its way to the girl's lips and she rolled her eyes.

"God, why do vampires have to be all that chatty?" She asked in a mocking tone. "You're all the same, guys."

"I have to admit you're kinda peculiar yourself," the vampire answered. "Usually, they just scream."

"I hate being ordinary," she replied.

"It's a shame," the vampire added. "'Cause at the end you'll just scream like everyone."

"Wanna bet?" The girl asked as the smile on her lips grew larger.

The vampire furrowed his brows, surprised by her reaction. He opened his mouth to say something but the girl didn't give him enough time. She freed herself of the vampires' grips at amazing speed, throwing them off her forcibly. They all crashed down heavily against the walls of the crypt. They got up slowly to face the girl standing proudly in front of them, smirking.

The anger on the vampires' faces contrasted perfectly with the obvious satisfaction and amusement on the young woman's.

"Still up for a wager, guys?" She asked. "Let's bet about this one: who's gonna kick whose ass in the end?"

They didn't answer and just lunged at her.

"Guess it's four to one," the girl commented.

She dodged the assault easily and returned the blows with much pleasure. She elbowed one vampire, kicked the second, punched the third, and slipped under the last one's grip.

Nothing remained of the helpless girl she appeared to be a minute before.

As she launched another hard kick at the vampire in charge for the third time, he suddenly burst into nervous laughter.

"Okay, you damn girl," he exclaimed. "You're really strong for a girl. But as strong as you are, I'm sorry to tell you, you can't kill us. We can't be killed, we're vampires!"

The girl considered her bare hands, palms open in front of her. The vampire leader laughed even more as she realized how helpless she was against them. His friends looked hesitantly at him, then at the girl, before bursting into laughter as well.

"You can hit us as long as you want!" He went on. "We can't be killed. But you can. That's why we'll win at the end! All we need is for you to slip for just a moment and we will kill you."

Now, he was smiling broadly at her, obviously already enjoying these happy prospects. The girl glanced one last time at her hands, then looked down. She inspected the ground, searching for a branch or some piece of wood. There was none. She raised her head again and turned to look all around the room. She carefully examined the dirty walls covered with moss, the tall pillar right behind her - all that remained of a Christian cross, the rocky altar at her right and the closed coffin lying above.

As the vampires sprung at her once more, she turned round at lightning speed and seized the big wooden pillar behind her. She pulled it so hard that she tore it down from the ground. She turned round again and violently lunged at the attacking vampires with her new weapon. She knocked two of them to the ground at the time.

"Still think I can't kill you?" She smirked, pointing at her giant stake.

The two standing vampires glanced at each other then shrugged.

"It's way too big to…" began one of them as his companion tried to discreetly slip away behind him.

But he never got the chance to finish his sentence. The girl threw herself forward with the pillar in front of her and she impaled both demons. They crumpled to dust all at once.

"Still think I can't kill you?" She repeated, addressing first the ashes at her feet, then turning to the remaining vampires.

They both got to their feet and tried carefully to back away from her, fear now obvious in their eyes. She smirked and gestured vaguely to the dirty window adjoining the door at the demons' backs.

"Sun's rising," she declared. "You're trapped."

They glanced at the opening, then at each other, before looking at her again. They suddenly turned around to dash to the door but in their haste to run away, they were in each other's way. As the taller vampire finally reached the doorknob, he felt his friend reducing to ashes beside him. He turned his head to see the girl standing behind him, her giant stake in hand and an arrogant smile plastered on her face.

Deciding to fight for his life, the vampire reached for the pillar and snatched the wooden piece from the girl. Surprised, she almost lost her balance in the process and took a step back. The pillar fell noisily on the crypt's filthy floor. A glimmer of hope appeared in the vampire's eyes.

But it didn't last. The girl regained her composure at once and charged forward so quickly and violently the vampire couldn't dodge the attack. He stumbled and fell backward. The girl didn't give him time to recover and was instantly raining blows on his face. He tried to defend himself but her rage and strength were overwhelming. There was nothing he could do in order to save his unlife.

When she felt him giving up, she suddenly stopped hitting him. She seized his collar and slapped him against the wall, just beside the front door.

"So," she said casually. "Who's the winner, pal?"

He didn't answer and tried to focus again, somewhat dizzy with the blows he just received. When he was finally able to talk again, he simply asked:

"Who the hell are you?"

She loosened her grip a little and laughed heartily at the question.

"Wanna know who's gonna kill you?" She smirked.

She slipped slightly aside without letting go of him and kicked the door open.

"That's your right," she replied with mock solemnity. "My name's Kira," she added.

"Are you a Slayer or something?" He asked again.

Her smile grew wider as she pushed him toward the open door.

"Slayer," she repeated slowly.

She positioned him on the threshold and he didn't even try to struggle, knowing there was no way to escape.

"I'm Kira, the Vampire Slayer," she announced.

She had hardly finished her sentence when she threw him out of the crypt without warning. The vampire burned to ashes immediately in the rising sun's light.

The girl crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head thoughtfully to the pile of dust in the grass in front of her.

"Kira the Vampire Slayer," she repeated. "I love the sound of it. That sounds good."


	2. Act 1

The sky was a clear blue and the sun was shining brightly, nearly reaching its highest point of the day. On the seventh floor of a hotel in the center of Portland, Oregon, a pair of curtains was still drawn.

This room was nevertheless bathed in a sweet light, allowed through the thin cream-colored net curtains. A large armchair under the window was covered with scattered clothes despite the beautiful dresser standing against the opposite wall. On the perfectly made king-sized bed in the center of the room, lay a young woman figure with a book between her elbows.

The room was silent, save for the low sound of the blonde's breathing and the soft noise of the flipping pages.

The silence was suddenly disrupted, as a door on the other side of the room burst open. Faith barged into the room, wrapped in a yellow towel and another one hanging on her shoulders.

"God! That was neat!" she exclaimed, addressing Tara who looked up to her upon hearing her voice. "This bath is so huge! I'm sure there's enough space to do naughty things in there for way more than two people!"

As Tara rolled her eyes, Faith could help giggling.

"C'mon Blondie!" she happily exclaimed. "That's not the only good point of this bath. Those whirlpool jets are a blessing, you should give it a try."

"I'm willing to," Tara answered. "I've just waited that you FINALLY get out of there!"

"I'm done, bathroom's free," Faith said casually.

She went to the bed and plopped down on the mattress near Tara.

"So, found something in your new book?" she asked.

The blonde nodded and pushed up herself on her right elbow to face the brunette.

"I think so," Tara answered. "There're a lot of things to see around here actually."

"So, what did you pick?"

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe you could make the final decision?"

"Spill," said Faith, standing again before heading to the armchair.

She rummaged through the pile of clothes and starting to dress while Tara sat up cross-legged in the middle of the bed, putting her book on her knees.

"I really like this book," she commented. "Giles was really nice to give it to us."

"You mean to give it to you," Faith grumbled.

"He gave it to US. You're the one not willing to read it."

"Yeah, I'm so much into reading, Giles knows that."

"You're not making any effort," Tara chuckled. "There're a lot of pictures inside y'know!"

Faith ignored the blonde's tease and finished to dress in silence. When she was done, she came back to the bed and literally jumped beside Tara.

"So?" She asked. "Something on your mind?"

"You're okay then to go and visit some place?" Tara asked carefully.

"Y'know, it's not like we had something planned," Faith shrugged. "I guess we can see."

Tara pushed her "Travel Oregon" book toward Faith for her to read and pointed the current page.

"There're two places in particular I'd like to see. You know, or maybe you don't," she corrected herself. "I like water a lot: falls, lake, river, that sort of things. So, I was thinking about going either to Multnomah Falls or Trillium Lake. Both aren't really far."

Faith shrugged and took the book from Tara's hands to get a better view of the Oregon's map the blonde was showing her.

"We can do both if you'd like to," She said after a minute or so examining the page. "Multnomah Falls are close to Portland, we can go there first and then head for Trillium Lake to spend the night."

"That'd be great," replied Tara with a sweet smile.

Flipping the pages of the book in Faith's hands, she added:

"I saw a pretty hostel in a village near the lake. I'll try to book a room for a few days if you're okay," Tara suggested, showing pictures of said-hostel to Faith.

The brunette glanced at the page and immediately nodded.

"It's fine with me," she answered. "We can leave as soon as you're ready."

Tara jumped to her feet and handed the book back to Faith.

"Take a look inside," she said. "And I'm going to try out this wonderful bathroom."

Faith sank against the headboard and chuckled.

"I guess we're not likely to leave any time soon then!"

Tara chuckled as well and disappeared in the bathroom.

***

The road to Multnomah Falls was rather short.

It took the girls about an hour to reach the falls from Portland, after leaving their nice and comfortable hotel room. It was not 1 am yet when Faith parked the car on the lodge's parking.

The air was cold and snow was covering everything around them, except for the road. The place looked charming and a delightful smile appeared on Tara's lips when she caught sight of the lodge and got out of the car, Faith following her close.

"Oh!" the blonde exclaimed, looking around her, pleasure obvious in her eyes. "This place is so pretty! Must be a good place to spend a night!"

"Thought you wanted to see the T-something lake too?" Faith grinned at her.

"Yeah, we'll go," Tara answered. "But it would still be a nice place to spend the night,"

Tara closed the door of the car and took a few careful steps in the snow on the roadside. Faith watched her with an amused glimmer shining in her dark eyes.

"If I didn't know you were born in Minnesota, I'd think you never walked in snow before," she said playfully.

Tara shrugged and turned to her, melancholy written over her pale face.

"It's just…" the blonde began softly. "It's been a long time… It's so pretty here…"

"You know, we went through cool places before." Faith informed her. "But I guess you didn't notice at the time." She added after a short wavering.

Tara did not answer and resumed her slow walk in the snow, her back to the brunette.

"It's Trillium Lake," she said bluntly.

"What?" Faith asked, puzzled.

"The lake," Tara clarified. "The T-something lake, it's Trillium Lake."

"Oh!" Faith exclaimed, remembering her previous expression. "Yeah. Whatever."

The Slayer turned back to the car where she picked up a tiny backpack on the back seat; then she followed in Tara's footsteps and caught up with her. She handed the blonde her book about Oregon from the bag and the girls walked quietly along the trail for several minutes.

"See," Tara said a little later, her book in her left hand, her right hand showing something on the page. "We've got to follow this trail, cross Benson Bridge, then turn on our right to get to the top of the falls."

Faith shrugged but nevertheless glanced at what Tara was showing to her as she replied: "Go ahead, I'm following you."

"I don't want to get us lost," Tara explained. "You'd be angry."

"I don't think we can get lost in here," Faith remarked. "We're not in those freaking mountains in Montana chasing a dragon."

"As night is falling," Tara added with a sly grin.

"Yeah!" Faith emphasized, rolling her eyes. "Let's not forget the night-falling part!"

Tara let escape a small laugh and Faith grinned back at her.

"Why are you grinning?" Tara asked.

"It's nothing," Faith shrugged. "I was just wondering if I could remember hearing you laugh before today," she explained quickly the second after.

Tara's smile vanished off her face and she frowned at Faith.

"What?" the blonde asked in a low voice.

"I didn't mean it was a bad thing," Faith said. "Just wondering. Got nothing against you laughing y'know."

Tara shrugged and remained thoughtful for a few moments, staring at the book without really seeing it while Faith was not paying attention at her anymore, looking around her at the beautiful peaceful snowy landscape.

"You must be mistaken," Tara suddenly said, snapping Faith out of her silent reverie.

"What?" The Slayer asked, her focus returned to the blonde.

"You must have heard it before," Tara explained.

Faith arched a questioning eyebrow, having already forgotten what the witch was talking about, as distracted as she was by the enjoying sight and silence around them.

"Maybe," she answered distractedly. "I don't remember,"

Tara did not add anything, though she wavered for a second. But she decided to drop the matter, Faith being more interested in their surroundings than in the current conversation. Tara could not blame her for that. She herself always loved nature and water and she could not help finding the falls somehow majestic.

They reached Benson Bridge, which allowed visitors to cross the falls between their lower and upper cataracts. The girls stopped there to admire the sight over the waterfalls.

They remained there quietly, leaning on the bridge guardrail and staring at the water flowing from dozens of feet above their heads, down dozens of feet beneath them. The falls bed was surrounded with snow and here and there, stalactites were hanging on the borders of the running water. Occasionally, little clumps of snow were falling from their place into the falls.

Minutes went by in a comfortable silence, only disturbed by the trademark waterfalls noise.

Faith looked to her left, to the other side of the bridge, where the trail they had followed continued between the saplings, winding its way up to the top of the falls.

"Wanna go on?" Faith finally asked, turning back to Tara. "You're not too tired to go up there?"

Tara looked at the path in turn and shook her head.

"I'm fine," she said. "I really want to go. The view must be beautiful from up there."

"Let's go then," Faith approved, already walking toward the path. Tara went after her and the girls followed the trail leading to the top of the falls.

The walk was silent and short. Only a few miles separated the Slayer and the witch from their goal and they covered the distance rather quickly, though they did not really on purpose. They only met one young couple halfway and exchanged a polite greeting.

Once at the top, none of them could quite hide their admiration at the sight around them. They remained there, perfectly still, their faces swept by the chilly wind now blowing, watching quietly.

"I feel like we're doing nothing but looking around," finally said Faith after a while, making Tara turn to her. "And as weird as it is, I'm kinda enjoying this." She added casually.

"It's a change," Tara answered, grinning slightly at Faith. "Just quietness, nature and peace. We can use that after the vampires, monsters and prison things."

"I guess," Faith answered distractedly.

"See?" Tara went on. "Sometimes, I have good ideas."

Faith turned to her and an amused grin forming on her lips.

"That's the first time Tar," she giggled.

"And this is new," Tara answered surprisingly.

"What?" Faith asked, puzzled at the blonde's lack of reaction, expecting her to protest on the first time part.

"Tar," Tara clarified, her trademark smile on her lips. "This is new,"

"Oh, sorry," Faith apologized. "Blondie," she corrected.

"I like Tar better," the blonde asserted.

Faith did not answer for a moment, staring silently at the witch with an unreadable expression on her face, half-hidden by her dark locks.

"I'll try to remember that," she finally said.

Tara did not answer and just kept smiling at the brunette before her attention came back to the falls.

"So?" Faith asked in a resolute tone. "We going back?"

"Yes," the blonde replied simply, already stepping toward the trail.

"I think I've got enough of quietness for today," Faith explained as she strolled at Tara's side.

The blonde rolled her eyes and giggled.

"I would have been surprised if it has lasted any longer," she teased. "You this calm, never thought I'd get to witness this!"

"'Bout this, I forgot to tell you that you can't tell anyone that I sometimes like standing still at the top of some falls in Oregon," Faith replied in the same tone. "'Got a rep of action girl to keep."

"I'll try to remember that," Tara answered, her smile growing wider at repeating the Slayer's own words.

"You really should!" the brunette exclaimed as she suddenly walked quicker, leaving Tara several feet behind her.

"Faith, don't walk so fast!" the blonde protested, trying to keep up with the Slayer. "I can't follow you!"

"Doesn't matter!" The brunette shouted over her shoulder. "You know the way!"

She quickened her pace again and was soon out of Tara's sight. The blonde sighed and gave up to follow her friend, slowing her steps instead, to get back to a normal pace.

She went down the meandering trail, heading back toward the bridge and the parking. She expected Faith to appear at the next bend of the path, waiting impatiently for her. What she did not expect at all though, was the snowball she received in full face as she reached the last curve to the left before Benson Bridge. She was so surprised that she toppled over as the snow hit her nose and fell flat on her face. She immediately sat up and did not search her aggressor for long: standing a dozen feet away from her, Faith was laughing heartily, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

Tara's mouth puckered up in a slight grimace of protest and the blonde got to her feet with all dignity she had left. She brushed the snow off her coat and trousers and finally looked at Faith indignantly.

"It wasn't f…" she began, but was interrupted by another snowball she had hardly time to dodge.

"Faith!" she shrieked.

But the Slayer was obviously really happy with her idea and had no intention to listen to the blonde.

"C'mon!" the brunette called happily. "Defend yourself, witch!"

As Faith carried on throwing snowball after snowball at her, Tara had to make up her mind to comply with the Slayer's expectations. She bent down and gathered some snow she threw clumsily at Faith, only making her laughing even harder than previously.

"Oh, c'mon Blondie!" Faith exclaimed. "I'm sure you can do better than that! You grew up in Minnesota or what?"

Saying so, she sent another snowball at Tara, hitting her target in full face again.

"I'm like an expert!" she concluded gleefully.

"Of course you are! You're a Slayer!" Tara protested. "What can I do against a Slayer?"

"Oh, it has nothing to do with my Slayerness!" Faith countered, collecting some more snow in her hands. "It has everything to do with living in Boston for a while! Minnesota should compete!"

She threw another ball at Tara who managed to avoid being hit in her face again, this one brushing lightly her right ear.

"The closest of a snow battle I ever got involved into, was my brother and his friends having me for target when they knew I couldn't fight back!"

"Why the hell couldn't you?" asked Faith in a bewildered tone, avoiding easily the snowball Tara had just thrown at her.

"Oh, first, they were four or five and I was alone," Tara explained. "And second, if I fought back, Donnie would have told dad I used magic and I would have got punished, whether it was true or not."

"Sounds unfair," Faith commented.

"It was," Tara answered, bombarding the brunette with little snowballs, as quickly as she could.

Faith plunged to the ground to avoid the blonde's attack and gave her opponent an appreciative glance.

"You're getting better Blondie!" she exclaimed and struck back immediately, throwing a fast snowball at Tara that did not miss its target this time.

Tara roared in displeasure and replied almost as fast as Faith just did, making this one chuckle with excitement.

"My name's not Blondie!" Tara growled while bombarding Faith with snow, eliciting a fit of giggles from the brunette.

Faith did not answer and just threw more and more snowballs at Tara who was doing her best to avoid the Slayer's attacks and to fire all at the same time. Despite her best efforts, Tara was soon soaked to the bone and forced to beg mercy from her opponent, who granted her request between two bursts of laughter.

Tara was looking at Faith wide-eyed, wondering if she would ever get to see the Slayer in such a good mood again. Faith usually wasn't exactly the laughing type. Witnessing the brunette laughing so heartily was somehow fascinating for the blonde.

Faith held her hand out to get the laying down witch to her feet and Tara took it with good grace. She brushed her clothes off the snow under Faith's amused glance and both girls resumed their walk along the path.

"Was good, wasn't it?" Faith merely asked.

Tara nodded in approval, before tilting her head to the side in a dubious gesture.

"Well, except the fact I'm going to catch a cold because I'm completely wet," she added after a pause, and wrappedher arms around her chest to keep whatever warm she had left.

"You'll slip into something dry when we get to the car," Faith said, now completely serious again. "We're not that far, we're already back at the bridge,"

Benson Bridge appeared indeed in front of them just as Faith was finishing her sentence. It was not deserted this time. A young woman with long curly brown hair was taking photos of the falls from the other side of the bridge.

"Oh!" Tara exclaimed when she noticed the woman and what she was doing. "I've completely forgot the camera Giles gave me before he left!"

"We should take photos," she added, holding her hand for Faith to give her said-camera from the bag she had over her shoulder.

"You know you have better photos in your book, it doesn't…" Faith began.

"It's not the same," Tara said matter-of-factly. "Would you please give me the camera?" she added in a pleading tone.

The Slayer rolled her eyes but nevertheless obeyed and handed Tara the small camera. Tara took it from her with a grateful smile and walked up to the middle of the bridge where she started to photograph the falls.

"Come on Faith," she called the Slayer a few seconds later. "I'll take you in front of the falls."

"What?" Faith grimaced. "No way! Do your things without me."

"Please Faith!" Tara insisted.

"I can take you if you want," Faith replied. "But I won't…"

"I can take both of you," offered a new voice.

Tara and Faith turned sharply all at once at the young photographer who was now standing just two feet away from them with a kindly smile on her face. She was probably around Tara's age, with long brown curly hair, dark almond-shaped eyes, full round lips. She looked charming to say the least.

"I can take both of you," she repeated, her smile growing wider. "The sight is beautiful here, would be a pity to miss keeping this memory."

Tara smiled back and nodded in agreement.

"Thank you," she answered, handing her camera to the young woman.

She grabbed Faith's arm and pulled her along with her as she headed to the opposite handrail. Surprisingly, the brunette hardly protested and let Tara lead her, as she seemed unable to tear her eyes off the new comer.

"Here?" Tara asked, settling against the handrail, with the falls slightly on her right.

"This is perfect," the girl answered.

"What do you think Faith?" Tara asked the brunette.

Faith turned to her and gave in the protest she was about to deliver when she saw the pleased expression on Tara's face.

"I guess it's okay," she simply answered.

She casually leaned to Tara's left and put down her left hand on the guardrail behind her while Tara folded her own hands in front of her. Not really knowing what to do with her right hand, Faith finally put it lightly on Tara's left shoulder, barely touching it.

The other girl centered them and pushed the shutter release two times. When she was done, Tara crossed the distance between them as the woman handed her the camera back.

"Thank you very much," Tara said with a light smile.

"'S' no big," The brown-haired girl replied. "Have a nice day." She added and started to leave.

"You too,"

And with that, she got away toward the trail leading to the top of the falls with a last wave to the Slayer and the witch.

"So, happy?" Faith asked when Tara gave her the camera for her to put back into the backpack.

Tara did not answer but nodded and finally mouthed a "thanks".

"We should get back now," Faith announced as the blonde was watching the falls again. "Before you freeze to death," she specified, gesturing to Tara's wet hair and clothes.

The blonde approved and Faith put the camera away before the girls took back the path leading to the parking.

***

Tara's hair was still wet when the girls entered the small village where they had decided to spend the next few nights.

They followed the road around the frozen Trillium lake before reaching the village, but they did not stop, Tara still freezing from the snow battle at the falls.

"We'll go later," Faith said as Tara suggested they could make a short pause by the lake. "You'd better dry yourself before, or you'll catch a cold."

As Tara was giving a hint of a smile at Faith's almost scolding tone, the Slayer went on:

"Not that I'm worrying about you or something. But if you get sick, I'd have to play nurse for you!" she explained ironically. "And I'd rather avoid that."

Faith looked at the blonde out of the corner of her eye and seeing her rolling her eyes, she couldn't help but adding:

"And believe me, you'd rather too!"

Tara chuckled and did not answer, looking outside instead at the few houses forming the village.

"Hey! Look at this!" she suddenly exclaimed, pointing something in the street.

"What?" Faith laconically asked. "See the hostel?"

"There's an occult bookshop!" Tara explained. "There might be magic books in there!"

"Lucky us!" Faith scoffed, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. "Only ten blocks but a magic bookshop! Looks like you've found yourself some distraction if there's no monster to slay around here!"

"You know that distraction doesn't always mean slaying monsters, don't you?"

"Well, that's the only way I know," Faith thoughtfully said. "Well, going at the fair could have been another one, but you know how that one turned out!"

"We were not lucky," Tara softly answered. "But it will be different this time. It looks like all peaceful here."

"Yeah," Faith replied dejectedly. "Like I never heard that one before…"

"Hey, look, here's the hostel," Tara interrupted, pointing at a building slightly ahead on their right.

"Don't worry Blondie," Faith said impatiently. "Can't miss it. There's just it around here."

She parked the car behind the hostel, in a little parking whose ground was covered in a thin layer of brilliant white snow. The girls went out, picked up their belongings and headed toward the hostel main entrance. A middle-aged man welcomed them and gave them their room's key after Faith announced they had booked a room.

They quickly climbed the stairs to the second floor, and the second Faith had closed the door behind them, Tara stripped her wet clothes off and went to take a warm shower in the room's private bathroom. Faith watched her, dumbfounded, and grinned before slumping on the queen size bed with a satisfied sigh.

"You're THAT cold?" the brunette chuckled. "You'd better make it quick, Tar! Wanna grab a good shower too! I'm all covered in snow myself!"

Tara answered something but Faith could not clearly make it out from the noise of the shower. She shrugged and lay back on the mattress. She did not have time to get bored. Tara complied with the Slayer's plea to be quick and indeed, she was out of the bathroom only a few minutes after entering it.

"We could go for a walk to see that bookshop?" the blonde suggested, still drying herself energetically. "What do you think?"

"Why not," Faith replied, stripping her clothes off in her turn. "We'll see when I'm done with the shower."

And she disappeared in the bathroom.

The Slayer was almost as quick as the witch to complete her shower and Tara teased her, asking if she wanted to compete with her for the quickest shower ever. Faith answered in a light tone that if she did, she would not have taken a shower at all. After a few minutes rubbing down their hair to get them dry, they were ready to go back outside.

The walk to the bookshop lasted for just a few minutes. The shop was at the beginning of Main Street when the hostel was at the end, but as the afternoon went by, it was colder and colder outside and the girls walked quickly along the deserted street to keep themselves warm. It started to snow again before they reached their destination.

Even Faith was happy to push the door of the shop to find shelter inside. The bell hung above the door, rang softly as they entered.

"God, it's fucking cold out there!" exclaimed the Slayer as she closed the door behind them.

Tara nodded and brushed the snow off her coat, already gazing around. The shop was small. And dark as the afternoon was fading away. Rows of shelves were covered with books of various sizes, colors and shapes. Three young girls were gathered around a book, standing near a shelf, and were giggling quietly together.

"Witches?" Faith asked in a low voice, bending toward Tara's ear.

Tara could not help a little snort and shook her head.

"No, they're not," she answered simply.

Faith picked randomly a book on the shelf in front of her and started to flip distractedly through the pages of 'Opening your mind to magic'. She rolled her eyes and put the book back in place.

"Don't think you'll find anything magic-y around here," the Slayer grumbled.

"Maybe not," Tara approved, flipping herself through another volume before putting it back quickly. "But it's not…"

"May I help you?" a female voice asked then.

In the back of the room, a woman stood now behind the shop's counter.

"I am Mrs. Applefresh. I am the shop owner." She announced.

She went round the counter to get closer to the girls with a warm smile on her face.

"Are you looking for something specific?" she asked, clearly addressing Tara.

Tara smiled back, though she looked slightly overawed.

"No, thank you," she answered. "We've just arrived in town, we've seen the shop and we just wanted to take a quick look."

"Well," the woman nodded, starting to retreat. "I'll be right here if you need me."

The girls watched the woman getting away and meet up with another woman they had not noticed at first in a corner of the shop.

As the shop owner was starting her polite introduction with the other customer, Faith looked away from her and sighed while gesturing to the books in front of them.

"I really don't get what you see in this," the Slayer said dejectedly. "This is all crap. But what do you expect of an occult bookshop in a place like this?"

"Actually," Tara replied. "This woman might be the real thing."

"Her?" Faith grimaced, turning her head to the woman again.

She considered her long large denim skirt, her pale pink shirt with puffed sleeves and her pair of sandals despite the freezing cold outside.

"Well, looks like a freak anyway. So I guess there's some potential here."

As Tara gave her an odd look, Faith tried to back-pedal as best as she could.

"Not that I meant that any witch must be a freak or that you're a freak or anything like that," she said in her most convincing tone.

"So why do YOU think that she's a witch?" She quickly added in a casual tone, seeing how lame her efforts sounded.

"I'm not sure," Tara explained, Faith's previous blunder being already forgotten.

She watched Mrs Applefresh talking to the other woman out of the corner of her eye and focused a few seconds on the pair, before carrying on:

"It's just a feeling, an impression I've got. There're some weird fuzzies around her. But I could be mistaken."

"Whatever," Faith shrugged. "Are you done?" she asked impatiently.

Tara smiled softly at the Slayer's demeanor and shook slightly her head.

"Goddess, five minutes in a bookshop and you're already bored."

"Well, there's not much reading for me here I think," she explained, pointing at several books one after the other. "Well, I'm not that sure after all," she interrupted herself, picking up a book and showing it to Tara.

The title read "The Magical Guide to Enhanced Sex". Tara stared at the book in disbelief, wondering for a second if the Slayer was serious or not.

"You're kidding me, right?" She finally asked, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

Faith looked at the cover for a brief moment, then put the book back on the shelf.

"Yeah, you're right, I don't need this, I've got mad skills anyway!"

Tara rolled her eyes and jumped when she heard the three young girls giggling louder than previously. Looking up, Tara saw that the teenagers had seen the book and heard Faith's comment.

"Time for dinner I guess?" Faith chuckled at Tara's embarrassed look.

"Yeah," The blonde replied. "I'll come back another time."

"We'll come b…" began Faith.

"Alone." Tara clarified as they exited the shop.


	3. Act 2

The night had fallen for a few hours. Through the window of their hostel room, Faith and Tara could see the dark sky where the full moon was shining among sparse stars.

The witch was curled up on the mattress with the bedspread thrown over her, and was again reading the Oregon travel guide Giles had given them. Faith, for her part, was sitting cross-legged on the floor and looked busy gathering, counting and cleaning her weapons.

"Are you sure we have to go patrolling?" Tara suddenly asked, turning briefly to the window. "It's just stopped snowing and I'm sure there's no one to save out there. It's way too cold outside for people to go for a walk by the moonlight."

"You never know," replied Faith without looking up from the stake she was currently sharpening. "We have to go, just in case. But we'll make it quick."

Focused as she was on the task at hand, Faith did not see Tara pouting. But she probably guessed the blonde did, because she looked up to her and chuckled.

"You don't have to come along if you don't want to," the Slayer said. "You're right, tonight will probably be pretty calm anyway."

Saying this, she grabbed a few weapons in front of her and got up. She picked up her jacket from a chair by the bed, slipped it on and hangs a short sword at her belt.

"I'll be back soon," she announced, heading for the door.

"No, wait," Tara interrupted. "I'm coming with you."

She threw the bedspread aside, shivered at the sudden coolness and got up. She reached for her shoes on the floor and slipped them on while Faith wavered by the door.

"You sure?" the brunette asked. "It's freezing out and it looks like you want to stay in bed, nice and warm"

"I'm good, " Tara answered, looking for her coat. "I'd rather come with you than be waiting alone for you to come back."

"As you want," Faith replied with a light grin. "You should take some weapons, just in case."

Tara nodded and grabbed a stake and the crossbow from the stock of weapons still lying on the floor.

"We should clean this mess," she commented hesitantly. "It could be dangerous to leave those on…"

"Oh c'mon Tar!" Faith exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "We're not kids, we won't hurt ourselves! We know they're here!"

"If you say so…"

Tara met Faith at the door and the girls left the room. They cautiously locked it and went down the stairs silently. The cold that welcomed them outside had Tara waver. For a brief moment, the blonde was tempted to change her mind and to come back inside. But as Faith noticed and a smile started to creep its way to the brunette's lips, Tara felt her resolution coming back.

"I'm coming," she stated before Faith had time to say something.

"I'm not saying a word," the brunette replied in a fake serious tone.

"Do you think there's a cemetery around here? It's really small." Tara remarked as they started to stroll away from the hostel.

"I saw a graveyard across the road to the lake," Faith replied. "We're gonna check it out."

"If we don't freeze to death before we ever get there," Tara mumbled.

"It's not that far; and you can stay here if you want," Faith said casually, as if the blonde had spoken for her to hear.

"I'm coming," Tara repeated.

"Good,"

They walked silently for fifteen minutes and met no one. When they finally reached the outside of the graveyard, they were indeed freezing and had to quicken their pace to try to get some warmth. Tara was almost panting as she tried to follow the Slayer.

"God, I hope we're gonna get some action," Faith said, rubbing her hands together. "I really need to fight some freaking monster or my blood is gonna freeze in my veins!"

"Looks like it's your lucky day then," Tara announced and pointed at a dark figure across them in the back of the cemetery.

Faith's gaze followed Tara's hand and a smirk appeared on her lips when she saw the unmistakable yellow eyes of a vampire.

"Looks like it's our lucky day," she confirmed.

In front of them, the vampire had stopped dead in his tracks. He was wearing a long fur coat and carried over his shoulder something the girls could not clearly see. He was staring at them, dumfounded, obviously not believing what his eyes were seeing.

"What are you doing here?" he asked after a silence, sounding way more surprised and unbelieving than threatening or mocking as vampires usually did.

"Out for an after dinner walk," Faith replied, her smirk growing bigger and bigger. "You?"

The creature looked at her questioningly, probably wondering if she was telling the truth or not. Faith took a resolute step toward him and gestured slightly at Tara to follow her. The blonde saw the Slayer bringing her hand under her jacket where a stake was hidden.

The vampire noticed as well because he took carefully a step back to keep a safe distance between himself and Faith, his eyes glued to Faith's right arm.

Faith somehow knew the vampire had already guessed who she was, but she could no longer resist revealing her identity and slowly removed the stake from her jacket. She could not hide the mocking smile on her face when she saw the vampire's face seem to get even paler than before.

"N-no, no…" he stammered, shaking his head in panic and denial. "Not a Slayer… Not here…"

"Surprise!" exclaimed Faith in a happy, loud tone, almost making Tara jump at the sudden outburst. "Slayers finally get here! There's nowhere in the world you can hide anymore!"

The vampire did not wait for Faith to make another move or to say another word. He threw his burden toward her and flew away as quickly as he could.

Tara let escape a small cry when she saw what the vampire had abandoned: it was the corpse of a dog. Deep marks on his neck told that the vampire had already begun his dinner.

"Oh my goddess…" Tara whispered, putting her hand in front of her mouth to hide her grimace of disgust.

"You should be happy it's not a kid," commented Faith casually. "C'mon, let's catch this one."

Already running after the escaping vampire, the Slayer totally missed the horrified expression on the blonde's face. With a last glance to the dead dog, Tara followed the brunette, running after her as fast as she could.

They crossed the whole graveyard, jumped over the small fence surrounding the cemetery before finally catching up with the runaway.

Whereas Faith easily hurdled the barrier, Tara had to stop dead in her tracks in front of it, realizing, as she was about to try to imitate the Slayer, that it was not a really good idea. She carefully cleared the obstacle before finally meeting Faith who was in a middle of a fight with the vampire and two other demons.

The blonde's eyes widened at the sight, wondering where the other two had come from. Tara hesitated, unsure if Faith needed her help.

"Oh! At last, Blondie!" She ironically welcomed the witch.

"I was just behind you," protested Tara. "But you're running so fast!"

"Well, look who's just joined the party!" the Slayer said, gesturing to the horned demons she was fighting.

They were both vaguely human-sized and shaped, with big head and two little golden horns. Their skin was dark grey with light, almost invisible clearer lines. They did not have hands, but claws like a scorpion instead.

"Neat, isn't it?" Faith went on, punching hard one of the demon and the vampire at the same time. "Looks like I'm gonna have some fun after all."

"It was supposed to be all peaceful and cool," Tara pouted, crossing her arms over her chest, now that she was sure the Slayer was in control with the situation. "We're supposed to be very far from the closest hellmouth."

"They could say the same," Faith remarked. "And guess what? It's far more annoying for them than for us!"

Saying this, she seized the vampire by the collar of his jacket, flipped him over quickly and threw him toward the remaining demon who was getting ready to attack her from behind. Both of them stumbled backward, entangled into each other and Faith turned back again at lightning speed to face the other demon.

She got her long and thin dagger out of her belt and almost cut the monster in two halves in a wide circular gesture. He fell on his back with an animal shriek and Tara could not help a gasp of horror.

Faith turned to her and addressed her with a fake grimace of apology.

"Don't be disgusted!" Faith told her with a grin. "I'm just doing my job!"

The vampire and the remaining demon took advantage of the Slayer's brief distraction to recover from the previous shock. They considered their now dead friend, looked at each other and without even nodding to each other, they got up and ran away.

Faith reacted immediately and tackled the demon to the ground. The vampire avoided his fallen companion and got away as fast as he could.

"Tar! Do something!" Faith yelled, already sitting up atop the demon and punching his face while glancing at the runaway vampire.

"What?" Tara grimaced, looking quizzically at the Slayer.

"The vampire!" Faith explained between two punches. "The crossbow! Shot him!"

Tara looked down at the crossbow in her hand then looked up blankly at the Slayer.

"I don't know how to u…" she began.

"Short version: load, aim, fire!" Faith shouted while violently elbowing the demon's face.

The Slayer's pressing tone put Tara into motion: she loaded the bolt as she had seen Faith doing so many times, raised the weapon at her shoulder and fired toward the escaping vampire. She missed her target by so much that he didn't even feel nor hear the bolt flying in the air behind him and finally sticking in a tree's trunk on its way.

Tara grimaced and looked shyly toward Faith. She just had time to see her finishing off the demon, as she broke her neck. Then the Slayer jumped to her feet and rushed to Tara's side.

"So"? She asked impatiently.

"Well, I missed him," Tara confessed carefully.

Faith rolled her eyes but she didn't get angry, as Tara was afraid she would. She took the crossbow from the blonde's hands and she just motioned to her to follow the vampire's track.

"My bad," the brunette said. "How wouldn't you miss him after all? C'mon, let's find our new friend."

Faith headed where the vampire had gone, Tara on her heels. She trotted casually, following the footprints the vampire had left in the snow, sure to get her prey in the end.

The track leaded them to an old shack into the woods. Everything was silent, the door and the shutters closed. But the footprints stopped just in front of the door. Faith looked carefully around and when she was sure no other fresh tracks could be found around the house, she nodded to Tara.

"He's here," she simply said. "Stay behind me."

She reached for the crossbow in Tara's hands, loaded the weapon and gestured to the blonde to take another weapon in her hand. Tara chose a stake and followed Faith when the brunette silently opened the front door. They stepped in carefully, Faith being prepared for any eventuality. It was useless though, the room they entered being empty. Faith looked closely around before abandoning her fighting stance and Tara consecutively relaxed as well.

The room was dark and perfectly silent. The floor and the walls were covered with dirt and only pieces of broken furniture were scattered here and there.

"You sure he came here?" whispered the blonde as low as she could for Faith to hear.

Faith shrugged and silenced Tara with a gesture of her hand. She focused on a corner of the room and listened attentively. Then she took a few steps in this direction and Tara mechanically followed her. In the corner of the room, the floor was covered by a small piece of a worn faded carpet. Faith pushed it aside, revealing a trapdoor.

"They're here." She breathed to Tara.

"They?" the blonde repeated, arching a questioning eyebrow.

"I can feel them," Faith answered as she began to carefully opening the trapdoor. "There are a lot of them in there."

"Do you think we really should go?" Tara asked shyly. "We don't know how many exactly…"

"I want to have a look," Faith cut her short. "I'll see what I do then."

"Like you're REALLY not knowing already what you're going to do," Tara pouted, rolling her eyes.

Faith smirked in understanding and gestured to Tara to keep silence now that the trapdoor was open. She gracefully slid through the opening and found herself on a dark landing, not larger than a foot and a half**. **Just a step from where she was standing, stairs were leading down to a cellar where the sound of several voices was coming from.

Tara followed Faith; taking great care to be perfectly silent as the Slayer was watching her with an arched eyebrow, ready to send her back upstairs at the slightest noise. But Tara succeeded in going down quietly and even earned a nod of approval from Faith. The brunette then looked away from the witch, crouched down and crawled to the corner of the stairs to get a view of the cellar downstairs. Tara did the same and the blonde's eyes widened when she took in the scene beneath: the small and dimly lit cellar was full of vampires and others monsters.

"Goddess," Tara could not help but whisper. "There're more demons than humans in this town!"

Faith stuck her hand on her mouth to make her quiet and gave her a dirty reproving look.

"Shhh," she hissed between her teeth, gesturing to some of the vampires who were now looking up toward them.

They remained perfectly still for a few seconds, waiting to know if the vampires had heard them. But their attention drifted away from the ceiling and both girls released their breath they had been holding without even noticing.

While the demons resumed their conversation downstairs, Faith studied attentively the scene, her eyes drifting from demon to demon to each detail of the room. After a moment during which Tara patiently waited, the Slayer turned to the blonde witch and gestured for her to go back upstairs. Tara frowned in protest but Faith grimaced back and the blonde understood there would be no argument over this. Then, she complied with the brunette's silent order and quietly slipped back through the trapdoor up to the house's ground floor. She was surprised to note the Slayer was following her.

"What are you doing?" Tara asked in a low voice when Faith had closed the trapdoor again behind them.

"What?" Faith said, arching an eyebrow toward Tara. "They're too many of them and this place is way too small. You'd be at risk if we attack now. We'll come back in the morning." She quickly explained.

"Do you have any kind of reason to think they will be less tomorrow? Or that the room will be any larger?" Tara asked ironically.

Faith chuckled and got to her feet before holding her hand to Tara to help her up. The blonde accepted the offered help and got up as well.

"So?" She pressed. "What do you have in mind?"

"We're gonna make some kind of bomb or something to force them out. I'll leave the vampires to you - and to the sun - and I'll take the other demons." The brunette told with a smirk. "What'd you think?"

"Machiavel!" Tara grinned.

"Uh?"

"Whatever," the blonde waved the unanswered question. "Good idea."

They exited the house and Faith silently closed the door behind them.

"So, what now?" whispered Tara.

Faith gestured for the blonde to follow and they got away quickly.

"It's enough for tonight I think," the Slayer said. "Let's go back to the hostel."

"I love that idea," Tara confirmed. "I'm dying for my bed and especially to get warm under the covers."

As Faith chuckled briefly, the blonde turned to her and arched a questioning eyebrow at her:

"What?" she asked.

"Nothin," Faith replied, half-scoffing.

"Oh, c'mon, " Tara insisted, elbowing clumsily the Slayer.

"I was just wondering how exactly you're planning to get warm under the covers!" Faith finally grinned ironically.

"Oh, very funny!" Tara grumbled and rolled her eyes.

"What? You're gay, I'm hot, what you've said was kind of disturbing, admit-it Tar!"

"Oh, yeah, you look very disturbed right now!"

"I am!" Faith said in a fake offended tone. "You're making some sexual innuendo, that's even completely shocking for me to hear!"

Tara stopped dead in her tracks and pointed a decided finger to Faith's nose.

"There was no sexual innuendo at all," she stated seriously. "And for the record, I'm just planning to take all the covers all to myself to get warm!"

With that, she resumed her walk, getting away from the Slayer, taking great strides. Faith just watched her for a brief moment, now laughing heartily, before finally running after her.

***

The morning after, the girls woke up just before dawn and Faith prepared a liquid bomb under Tara's dumbfounded stare.

"Where the hell did you learn to do that?" the blonde asked defiantly.

"Oh, y'know, somewhere between living on the streets and prison," the brunette smirked. "Plus, really useful as a Slayer."

"I guess so…"

"And really inflammable too," Faith added. "Which makes the usefulness for the Slayer part."

"You're sure it's going to work? It looks pretty small and…"

"Of course it's gonna work!" interrupted Faith in an offended tone. "I'm like an expert!"

She shook lightly the flask containing her bomb under Tara's stare and nodded her approval to her own creation.

"It's done," she said. "Let's go"

Twenty minutes later, the girls were back at the shack of the day before. But the place was hardly recognizable. The main door – or what was left of it – was wide-open, the right window was broken, and its shutters had been torn off.

They entered the silent house casually, Faith already knowing there was nothing left to find here. She was right. The trapdoor was wide open as well and the corpses of five or six demons were lying on the floor of the shack next to it.

Faith went to the wide-opening once hidden by the trapdoor and lightly jumped on the landing beneath. She caught a glance to the cellar but it was deserted and kind of a mess.

"It's clear" she told Tara. "You can come down"

Five seconds later, the blonde landed near the Slayer.

They both went down the stairs to the room where they had witnessed the demons and vampires the night before. A slight smell of smoke hit the girls' nostrils as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Looks like someone had the same idea" Faith commented, looking at the tracks on the ground. "Must have been a hell of a fight" she added, pointing to the various pieces of broken furniture, objects and some more dead demons.

"But who?" asked Tara while looking around her curiously. "Do you think Slayers did this?"

"It certainly looks like it" Faith replied. "But I don't remember the council having a base nearby. They could have sent a team here if they got the information there was unusual amount of demonic activity around here."

"Anyway, I don't think any vampire made it out alive of here," Tara said. "With all this dust…"

"Yeah," Faith confirmed. "And there are three demons bodies down here and at least five upstairs."

The brunette's attention drifted away from Tara again and she went on watching the scene, looking for any evidence of what had taken place there within the last hours. They finally went back up to the ground floor where Faith resumed her casual observation.

"Now I'm frustrated!" she eventually exclaimed.

She got the flask of explosive out of her pocket and glanced at it, irritated.

"Fuck!" she went on. "What are we gonna do now?"

"Hum…" Tara said, faking hesitation. "I don't know… Maybe going back to the hostel and sleeping some more? Or having a peaceful and resting walk around the lake?"

"No, no, no!" replied Faith, suddenly enthusiastic, and obviously not listening to the blonde's ideas. "I know what we're gonna do now we're up, out and all equipped!"

"I'm dying to know…" grumbled Tara but Faith did not even notice.

"I'm gonna teach you how to use a crossbow!" concluded Faith, smiling widely, obviously very happy with her idea.

It took Tara a second or two to process the brunette's words but even when it was done, she was not quite sure she had clearly understood them.

"What?" she said, looking dumbfounded at Faith.

"I'm gonna teach you how to use the crossbow," repeated Faith, in a calmer way this time. "You look like someone who can use some crossbow training."

"Are you kidding?" Tara asked seriously, though she already knew the answer to that question.

"Do I look like someone who's kidding?" Faith stated, and she definitely did not look like she was kidding. "C'mon, let's make this day useful"

With this, she left the shack, determined to put her idea into practice. Tara looked at her for a brief moment, hoping somehow she would change her mind.

But "C'mon Tar!" was all she got from Faith.

"Oh, goddess…" she whispered, before following the Slayer outside.

***

"I promise it's simple," said Faith, turning to her right toward Tara with a grin.

They were still in the forest surrounding the lake, now in a small clearing not too far from the lake itself. Between the saplings, Tara could see its frozen surface. When Faith allowed her to.

"Look at me," the Slayer interrupted Tara's reverie. "It's simple."

"Oh, I guess…" the witch grumbled.

Faith probably heard but she pretended she did not and went on with her demonstration.

"It's very simple," she repeated again while raising the crossbow at her shoulder. "Load…"

"Load, aim, fire…" Tara interrupted, repeated Faith's orders from the day before. "Very simple." She concluded with a little snort.

"Okay," admitted Faith with a sly grin. "Maybe not THAT simple. But simple nonetheless. You're going to have mad skills in no time. Look."

She missed Tara rolling her eyes as her attention came back to the crossbow. She aimed for a tree standing around twenty feet away right in front of her and fired. The bolt jabbed in the trunk with a thud.

"See?" the brunette said, loading the crossbow before handing it over to Tara. "Simple."

"Of course!" Tara exclaimed. "It's simple for YOU. Everything looks simple when it comes to you. I just…"

"At least try," Faith cut her short, interrupting the blonde's complaint.

Tara sighed but she nevertheless complied and seized the weapon from Faith's hands. She clumsily raised the crossbow at her shoulder in her turn, which elicited a chuckle from the Slayer.

"C'mon Tar, you can do better than that!" she exclaimed.

She came to Tara's right and placed Tara's arm with her own. She then pointed Tara's hand and weapon toward another tree, closer than the one she used for her demonstration. She finally released Tara's arm and nodded to her.

Tara flinched as she pressed the trigger and the bolt did not even fly all the distance it was supposed to and buried itself in the dirt. Faith turned to the blonde, bewildered.

"You don't even make an effort," she said, her tone a little irritated. "Press this damn trigger!"

"I told you I didn't feel like…"

"Let's try again." Interrupted Faith. "Don't you want to be able to help when we're patrolling?"

As Tara nodded, she resumed:

"This is a good way. With this, you could dust vampires without putting yourself at risk."

"Please, stop lecturing me," the witch grumbled. "It's okay. I'll do my best."

"Okay, then" concluded Faith and she handed a new bolt to the blonde. "Try the same tree."

Tara loaded the crossbow with Faith's help and explanation and got herself ready to fire once again. That shot went further than the previous but missed completely its target. As did the next dozen after it.

"You're doing better, " exclaimed Faith ironically as Tara just missed her target for the fifteenth time. "You only missed it by fifteen inches this time. We're about to get that tree, I'm sure!"

"Don't make fun of me!" replied the blonde. "I AM doing better."

"Never said otherwise," Faith chuckled. "Maybe in a few hours…"

She trailed off as Tara raised an eyebrow at her and resumed in serious tone:

"I can't believe this, you didn't even want to try back then and now you're like a kid with a new toy!"

"I want to succeed." Tara said. "I want to be useful."

"Well, I'm not sure anymore that shooting with a crossbow will make you of any use! You know I wanted to add more precise target later? A vampire's heart and a tree are totally different kind of target y'know"

"I know," Tara responded, loading the crossbow again. "I can do it."

"Well, y'know, you ain't a fighter or anything. I'm not sure you got the thing in you. Have you even ever killed a single vampire or something? I'm sure you haven't"

Tara couldn't help but grin as Faith was finishing her sentence and she denied the Slayer's assumption rather proudly:

"You're wrong! I have."

"Really?" Faith asked, arching a skeptical eyebrow. "Tell me about it."

Tara's smile vanished a little but she nevertheless resumed, her tone much less enthusiastic now:

"It was a demon," she told. "He was threatening Wi…Willow…" Her voice faltered somehow as she uttered her ex-lover's name.

"I killed him with an axe. I buried it in his back. Killed him with one shot." She resumed in a firmer, darker tone.

She fell silent and Faith remained silent as well, looking at her curiously. The Slayer tried to hide her surprise at first, but she finally gave it up.

"Impressive," she commented. "Never woulda thought."

Tara shrugged and didn't answer. The blonde looked thoughtful for a time and Faith didn't interrupt the quiet moment. She let Tara break it when the blonde eventually raised the crossbow and her eyes focused on Faith again.

"Let's try again?" she asked, any trace of reverie of any kind now gone.

"Let's try again," confirmed Faith. "Shoot."

Tara obeyed and loaded the weapon before aiming at the tree and firing.

That new shot was far better than the previous ones and the bolt stuck in a tree at least fifteen feet away from the girls on Tara's left.

Tara considered the bolt, then the crossbow in her hand then turned to Faith with a shy smile.

"So, what do you think?"

"Hum…" Faith began. "If you were aiming at this tree, I'd say it's surprisingly good. But if you were aiming at the one I told you, then I'd say you need a little more training!"

"Little more training it is, then," Tara gravely concluded.


	4. Act 3

Faith and Tara were walking side by side along a country lane, slightly covered with snow. Faith was strolling distractedly with her hands in her jeans' pockets, her eyes roaming over her surroundings.

Beside her, Tara had some trouble to follow as she was walking carefully, paying close attention not to slip on the slippery ground. She was awkwardly holding a crossbow with both her hands and didn't appear to be at ease with the weapon.

"Faith, are you sure it was a good idea for me to take the crossbow?" The witch asked. "I think it's a little soon for me. I'm not ready yet."

Faith turned to her and considered the crossbow in the blonde's hands.

"Oh, you've made impressive progress all day long." Faith snorted. "I'm sure you will…"

She interrupted herself when she caught a glimpse of the way Tara was looking at her, not amused at all by the Slayer's mockery.

"Well, I sort of figure it won't be really useful. But it can at least make some impression." The brunette explained in a more serious tone. "You know, to the vampires." She clarified when Tara gave her a blank look.

"Oh yeah," Tara snorted and rolled her eyes, obviously unconvinced by Faith's argument.

"I'm sure I look frightening right now!" She commented.

"You don't give yourself enough credit Blondie!" Faith chuckled.

Tara rolled her eyes once more and pouted, to Faith's great amusement.

"You're gonna do just fine," the brunette added a moment later in a serious tone. "Remember: load the bolt, aim at your target, pull the trigger. It's simple. " She concluded.

"Simple," Tara repeated. "It's all coming back to this."

Faith didn't answer and the girls remained silent for minutes before the Slayer spoke up again.

"Stay on your guards Blondie," she said. "We already met a nest around here. And I feel something nearby…"

Tara raised instinctively her crossbow a little and she looked around her, concerned.

"Wh-what do you think it is?" she asked fearfully, looking around.

"Dunno," Faith answered, absent-mindedly.

She got her hands out of her pockets and reached for a stake and a long thin dagger, both hanging at her belt.

"Maybe vampires," she went on. "Maybe something else."

She looked around carefully, trying to pierce the darkness of the night.

"Probably something ugly and unfriendly…" she continued. "Possibly with horns. Or claws. Or both. Or worse."

"Are you trying to comfort me?" Tara asked in a mocking tone. "'Cause, just to let you know, it's not working."

Faith giggled and winked at the witch.

"Easy Blondie," she casually replied. "We're gonna make it, we're used to this crap."

"For God's sake, Faith, my name's not Blondie," Tara grumbled in an irritated tone. "Will you ever recall that?"

"I might try." Came the reply.

Faith paused a second before adding nonchalantly:

"One of these days," and the blonde rolled her eyes.

The girls fell silent and kept quiet as they resumed their walk in the snow. Several new minutes went by and they met no one neither nothing. Faith started to think she might have been mistaken when she thought she felt a demonic presence.

Maybe it was just her imagination.

She had just reached that conclusion and was putting her weapons back at her belt when a dark shadow burst from her left, stumbled when he tried to avoid the Slayer and finally fell over and dragged the brunette along his fall.

Thanks to the moonlight, the only thing Tara was able to see was that whatever the newcomer was, it wasn't human, a pair of horns and unusual hairiness being the clues leading her to that conclusion.

"Faith, are you okay?" the witch asked, a hint of panic in her voice.

Only grunting sounds replied to her and she raised her crossbow toward the shadowy shape in front of her, trying to make out Faith from her opponent.

"Faith, are you okay?" she repeated.

The Slayer suddenly got to her feet, succeeding in pushing the demon away.

"Dude!" she exclaimed as she brushed some snow off her jacket. "That thing stinks as hell!"

Tara couldn't help a smile at Faith's sense of priority.

"You okay?" the witch asked again.

"Five by five," the Slayer nodded.

She raised her arms toward the moon to make sure she was done taking the snow out. Satisfied with herself, she turned to the demon and approached to be able to see him better.

"Don't know what's this," she said. "But see?" she turned round to Tara. "Told you there will be horns of some sort."

The demon was still on the ground, sitting a few feet away from Faith and Tara. His body was thin and covered with long brown hairs hiding his skin. His head was large, surmounted by two small curved horns. His big yellow eyes shone in the night with something looking like terror. Faith observed him for a moment and Tara stepped closer too.

"He doesn't look dan-dangerous," the blonde whispered. "He looks even more frightened than we are."

"I'm not frightened," Faith stated in a slightly offended tone.

"At least, more frightened than me then," Tara corrected.

"So, what are we gonna do with him?" the Slayer questioned, more for herself than for the witch.

"I'd like him to fight a little," Faith went on, thinking out loud.

Tara frowned. She looked at the demon, then at Faith, then at the demon again.

"You're talking a-about ki-killing him anyway?" she asked.

"And what?" Faith confirmed, nodding her head. "He's a demon, I'm a Slayer."

"B-but he doesn't a-appear to be dan-dangerous," Tara insisted. "I'm not sure Bu-Buffy used to kill all sort of de-demons, even those who…"

"I'm not Buffy," interrupted Faith dryly. "She's got her methods and I've got mine."

The tone was sharp and wasn't expecting a reply, so Tara remained silent. Faith kneeled near the demon, examined him a little more and stretched her hand toward his knee.

"Hey, big guy," she smirked. "You're so tall, and strong and frightening. And you're afraid of two little girls? That's a shame, "

Saying this, she was inching closer and closer of the monster, obviously amused to see such a big demon terrified just to see her.

"Faith," Tara whispered, suddenly worried. "Maybe you shouldn't…"

She never got the chance to finish her sentence. As Faith was patting his knee with fake kindness, the demon suddenly jumped forward and knocked the Slayer down in one violent gesture.

Tara shrieked in horror, surprised by the monster's fast action and to see Faith rolling to the ground.

"Faith!"

The Slayer sat up at Tara's scream but she couldn't avoid a new blow and fell back to the ground as the demon hit her once again. The witch tried to think about a spell, any spell possibly useful in the present situation. But as usual, nothing would come to her mind as fast as she wanted. She considered the crossbow in her hand for a brief second and decided it was her best chance to help Faith despite her poor skill with that particular weapon. She aimed the crossbow at the monster's shape and tried to keep him in her line of fire before pulling the trigger.

Before she could decide she was ready to fire or not, a new figure suddenly appeared from the roadside and jumped literally forward onto the monster back.

"Watch his claws and horns!" yelled a feminine voice.

Tara hesitated, not sure of which side the newcomer was. She nevertheless lowered her arm, when she saw Faith getting to her feet thanks to the demon being distracted by the new girl. The brunette reached for her dagger hanging at her belt while the girl – appearing to be her ally – squeezed the demon's neck between her arms.

Faith hit the demon in his chest several times and her actions combined to the other girl's efforts soon got the better of the monster.

When he completely stopped moving, Faith took a step back and the other girl released her prey who fell silently in the snow. In the renewed silence, the Slayer and her recent fight partner were standing face to face, staring intently at each other.

"Who the hell are you?" Faith asked finally.

"And you?" the girl shot back.

She was slightly taller than Faith. Her hair was light brown, long and curly. She looked thinner than the brunette but probably wasn't really. She wore a pair of blue jeans, a thick winter coat, a white scarf, a pair of gloves and a pair of old boots. Her features were fine and delicate, her cheekbones high, her lips generous. Tara couldn't say if she was older or younger than the Slayer. But the same pride was shining in her eyes.

"Who are you to go for a walk at night in such a cold with a dagger in hand?" the girl went on. "It's not exactly a normal thing,"

"Like running after monsters and strangling them is!" Faith retorted.

"You were the one to stab him," the girl pointed out.

Faith slid the dagger back at her belt and crossed her arms over her chest, keeping the girl under her intense scrutiny in the process.

"That's part of my job," the brunette answered back.

"To stab?" the girl asked ironically.

"To stab monsters," Faith clarified, icily.

"Part of my job too," the other one replied.

"I'm a Slayer," Faith said. "Are you?"

A thin smile crept to the girl's lips and she nodded.

"I am," she simply answered. She paused and stretched her hand to Faith. "I'm Kira."

Faith appeared to waver and for the briefest moment, it seemed she wouldn't take the given hand. But she finally did and shook it lightly.

"I'm Faith," she responded. "And this is…" she gestured vaguely toward Tara and paused. "…My friend Tara,"

"Hey Tara," Kira greeted the witch.

The blonde waved back shyly but didn't move from her place. The three girls remained silent for a few seconds until the loud sound of a growling stomach broke the quiet moment. Faith couldn't help but laugh and Kira did as well.

"Looks like the HH syndrome is striking!" Kira exclaimed, looking down at her stomach, then gazing at Faith with a smile.

"Well, " Faith said, grinning back. "Let's take care of the hungry part and have some dinner for a start!"

***

The three girls were sitting at a table on the ground floor of Faith and Tara's hostel. Faith and Tara were sitting side by side on one side of the table and Kira was facing Faith. The Slayers were obviously getting along with each other very well and they were chatting animatedly and happily together.

Tara for her part, looked terribly bored. The blonde was silently eating her meal – just a steaming soup and a piece of bread – and wasn't taking part in the conversation at all. Her face closed and her brows furrowed, she let long-suffering sighs escape from time to time as Kira was telling a story with much details about her first time slaying a vampire. Neither Faith nor Kira seemed to notice, as engrossed as they were in their talk.

"So, what it's like to be a Slayer?" Faith asked. "Ever got a watcher or gone to the council training center?"

"No, I'm alone. I learned the Slayer stuff alone." Kira replied. "And you? Do you usually study at the council?"

Faith couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Not really," she answered. "Well, y'know, the council wasn't exactly as it is now when I was called to be a Slayer,"

The other girl blinked and looked at Faith blankly for a few seconds, not understanding what the brunette meant. As realization slowly sank in, her jaw opened wider and wider in surprise.

"God," she whispered. "Are you THE Faith? Faith Lehane? The original Slayer?"

A proud smirk made its way to Faith's lips as Kira now looked at her with pure curiosity shining in her eyes. For a moment, the girl forgot to eat, now staring at Faith like she was seeing her for the first time.

"I can't believe it," she resumed after a pause. "You're the last Slayer ever activated, the one whose death should have activated another one, the one ruling the Slayer heritage!" she went on, suddenly enthusiastic.

Her enthusiasm vanished as quickly as it appeared when she concluded sarcastically:

"Well, until Buffy Summers decided to take back the control of the Slayer line…"

Faith's face crumpled a little at this but the expression disappeared so fast that she wasn't sure Kira noticed.

"So, you're Faith Lehane, THE Slayer…" she stated, looking now at the brunette straight in the eye.

"Yeah," Faith confirmed, leaning casually in her chair. "I'm Faith."

"So, tell me," Kira said. "Tell me how it was to be a Slayer before. Tell me stories about yourself. We've only been talking about me for hours."

"That's for sure…" Tara mumbled in a low voice, not raising her eyes from her soup.

Faith turned to her in surprise and frowned.

"What? What did you say?" she asked, not having clearly heard the blonde.

Tara waved the question away with a shrug and mumbled a "S'nothing," in a louder voice.

Faith kept looking at her for a few seconds, as she was expecting the blonde to change her mind and to say something. When she was sure it would not be the case, she turned back to Kira.

"So, where were we?" she asked.

"You were about to tell me some stories about yourself," Kira answered.

"I'm not sure that was it!" Faith chuckled.

"Oh come on Faith!" the other Slayer encouraged. "You must have exciting stories to tell me! I'm all ears!"

Faith hesitated but she eventually complied with her new friend's demand. She talked about Sunnydale and the First and about some of her younger stories, carefully leaving out any personal detail. The other girl looked to be really interested in the brunette's tales.

Which wasn't Tara's case. The blonde remained still and silent and the Slayers apparently forgot about her being there. They appeared to only remember the blonde's presence when Tara got up from her chair and they looked up to her.

"What'cha doing Blondie?" Faith asked.

"It's late and I'm tired," the witch answered, more dryly than she intended. "I'm going to bed." She added in a softer tone.

"'Kay" Faith answered distractedly. "'Night then, see you in the morning."

Tara nodded and waved briefly at Kira and turned around before leaving her time to respond. She then headed to the back of the restaurant and disappeared though the door leading to the stairs. Kira stared at her retreating figure, dumbfounded.

"Hum, I'm not sure I heard her voice before," she remarked. "Not really chatty. Is she always like that?"

Faith shrugged casually.

"I've gotten used to that," she replied. "Talking's not her thing."

"She doesn't seem to like me," Kira remarked.

"It has nothing to do with you," Faith explained. "She's kind of shy,"

"Yeah," Kira nodded absent-mindedly, looking back at the direction Tara had just gone. "Yeah."

She remained silently staring at the backdoor for a few seconds, then turned again to Faith.

"Other things to tell me?" she asked with a light smile.

"I'm sure we've both got million of stories about slaying and stuff," Faith said, starting to swallow her dessert. "But now's your turn, tell me about yourself."

"Why that?" Kira asked, playfully.

"I'm the eldest," Faith answered back. "Gives me the right to decide."

"That's a position," Kira smiled. "Then, let's go with the start."

She drank a mouthful in her glass of water before going on:

"I was born and I grew up in Connecticut until I was eight. I moved to New York for a couple of years, then I lived in Chicago, Kansas City, Denver, Missoula, Boise and finally Portland."

"You've gone more and more west," Faith commented.

Kira had a small laugh and nodded.

"Yeah," she approved. "When I was a kid, I kind of thought my mother was a murderer or that she stole money from the mafia or something and that she was running away from someone!"

Faith smiled slightly at this but she didn't comment at first.

"Your mother's still in Portland?" she asked after a silence.

Kira shook her head and shrugged.

"She died a few years ago."

"I'm sorry," Faith answered mechanically, now slightly embarrassed.

"Oh y'know, that's probably better this way," Kira thoughtfully said. "She would have had a very hard time with what I've become. Wasn't what she dreamt of for me,"

"What you've become?" Faith repeated.

"Uh, yeah," Kira responded, as her eyes focused on the Slayer again. "The Slayer gig and stuff."

"Yeah," confirmed the brunette. "Not quite what ANY mother would dream of for her girl,"

"Yeah, I guess,"

The Slayers fell silent for a moment before resuming their casual chitchat of before. They stayed a long time talking in the hostel together, and it was very early in the morning when they finally parted.

Kira had insisted to pay for the dinner when Faith had finally finished to eat but the brunette didn't let her do so. Faith walked the other girl back to the hostel door and Kira left her after they agreed to meet in the evening in the closest cemetery to patrol together. Both Slayers looked delighted with this prospect, especially Kira. The brown-haired Slayer left her counterpart with a thin smile on her lips.

Faith looked at her disappearing in the cold winter night, then she went to bed. She found Tara deeply asleep when she entered their room. She took great care not to make any noise when she closed the door and when she undressed; and the blonde didn't wake up when the brunette slipped carefully beneath the sheets beside her.

***

Faith blinked once, then twice and rubbed her eyes at the sunlight bathing the room. She rose on her elbows and looked around her. Tara wasn't in bed anymore. The blonde was sitting on a chair by the window, reading her Oregon travel book again, apparently already showered and dressed. She looked up from her reading when she heard Faith moving.

"Hey," she greeted. "You awake,"

"Yeah," grumbled Faith, still a little sleepy. "How come you're already up?"

"Hum, it's the middle of the afternoon Faith," she answered quietly. "I've been awake for hours."

"Middle of the afternoon?" the Slayer repeated. "You gotta kidding me"

Tara did not answer and gestured to the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was indeed showing that it was quarter to four pm in big green numbers. Faith glanced at it, dumbfounded, then turned back to Tara:

"Was a while I didn't sleep that late" she commented.

"Yeah," confirmed Tara. "You must have come back very late," she added hesitantly. "Or very early."

"Yep," confirmed Faith, not noticing Tara's strange expression. "Dawn's wasn't too far I think"

"I guess you've spent a great evening," Tara said, her voice sounding strangely warm and asking at the same time.

"Was fun," Faith agreed while sitting up in the bed. "Kira looks pretty nice,"

"She's a good Slayer?" Tara asked

"I have no idea, we just stayed at the hostel talking," Faith replied and she finally got up. "But I guess we'll find out tonight."

"Tonight?" Tara repeated and frowned. "How tonight?"

"We've agreed to meet at the cemetery to slay a few demons together," Faith explained. "I guess she's dying to impress me or something,"

"Yeah, I guess" Tara grumbled with a slight grimace.

Faith gave her a half-smile when she saw her annoyed look, and she shrugged.

"Well, y'know, you're not forced to come if you don't want to. I won't be alone. You can have your peaceful evening all by yourself if you want,"

"Yeah, I guess," The witch said again.

Faith waited for a few seconds, probably waiting for her friend to go on. Seeing nothing more coming, she collected her clothes on the floor by the bed and headed for the door.

"As you want Blondie, I'm gonna grab a shower. See you in a few,"

***

This night was not any warmer than the previous ones but Faith wasn't cold right now. Not cold at all. Even when a vampire managed to push her violently enough to make her fall back first in the snow, it wasn't enough to make her feel the cold. She barely felt the snow touching her skin as she leaped to her feet so quickly that her enemy did not even get time to be delighted with this tiny kind of victory. Indeed, Faith's right foot connected with his face before he even smiled at seeing her on the ground. Faith herself did not take time to enjoy the vampire's surprise and pain, and flipped over to face another opponent. As she did, she caught a glimpse of Kira about to being attacked by behind, a few feet away from her.

"Kira! Watch out!" she yelled, but before she got the whole warning out, Kira had already grabbed her attacker by his right sleeve as he was raising his right hand above her neck, and thrown him over her shoulder where he was impaled on Kira's current opponent's sword. Both vampires gasped in surprise and Kira took advantage of their bewilderment to quickly run her stake through their hearts, one after the other. Then, she raised a thumb up toward Faith and grinned, obviously very happy with the situation. Faith nodded to her and they both turned away from each other simultaneously to face new opponents coming in their backs.

While both Slayers were greatly enjoying themselves fighting demons together, Tara was sitting on what was left of a tombstone after Faith had sent a couple of vampires through it a while ago, and was watching the Slayers' show from a distance. Unlike her companions, the blonde witch did not appear to enjoy the evening very much. Legs crossed, her right elbow resting on her left knee and her chin resting on her right hand, she took a look at her watch more than often. Despite the vampires gang the girls just came across by the lake, Tara did not look neither worried nor scared. The fact was, the Faith-Kira team had been more than efficient until then, and indeed, no vampire had even managed to step beside her closer than a few feet.

Between two glances at her watch, the blonde witch was forming tiny fireballs in her left hand and for a few seconds, all her attention was focused on them. Any external watcher would find hard to determine if the goal of that focus was to hold the growth of the flames or, on the opposite, to increase them in her palm. But the blonde's effort was to short to come to a conclusion and Tara finally closed her hand and the small fireball vanished in smoke. Sometimes, the blonde turned the flames between her fingers and discreetly looked up toward the slayers. As any of them was noticing her actions, Tara soon was returning to her game.

It was only after ten or fifteen fireballs had appeared then disappeared in her hand that one of the slayer noticed finally the witch. Kira's gaze fell upon Tara's hands where tiny ghostly flames were dancing between her fingers. The Slayer stopped short any activity to watch the blonde with a glimmer of fascination in her eyes.

"Are you a witch?" she eventually asked.

Tara looked at her at the sound of her voice, and Faith dusted one last vampire before turning to her friend in her turn.

"What?" said the brunette, not having noticed anything until then.

Tara made the fireball turn between her fingers one last time under Faith's disbelieving gaze, then closed her fist around the flames to make them disappear.

"Yes," she simply answered.

Kira took a few steps toward her, her eyes not leaving the now empty hands of the witch.

"Why… Why don't you use your powers then?" She asked again. "Fireballs against vampires? Could be useful."

Tara shrugged and let escape an irritated sigh of denial.

"Have you seen the size of those fireballs?" she asked in an unusual biting tone. "They wouldn't afraid a single vampire."

"You could train yourself to make bigger ones," Kira went on, ignoring the blonde's obvious annoyance.

"I'm not good at this," Tara replied, shrugging once more and getting up from the tombstone she was sitting on. "I'm not good at fighting"

"Who's talking of fighting?" replied Kira, who obviously wanted to make herself heard on the matter "With your fireballs, you don't even need to fight directly. You could cover Faith during her patrols," she added while turning to the aforementioned Slayer who had just caught up with them. The girl concerned shrugged in her turn at this comment.

"Give it a rest," she said. "It's not her thing."

Faith brushed some dust off her sleeves, glanced around them then turned to Kira, before going on all naturally like the conversation about Tara and her fireballs had never taken place:

"I think we're done for tonight. We're gonna get back, aren't we?"

"Yes," immediately answered Tara, who was obviously very happy with this idea. "Or I'm going to die of cold for good this time."

"You shouldn't have come," Faith grumbled, while getting closer to stare at her from head to toes. "I told you you'd be freezing to death."

"I'll be good," whispered Tara, rubbing forcefully her sides. "I'll be good."

The blonde then strode off toward the cemetery entrance, and after a last glance to their surroundings, both Slayers followed close on her heels and caught up with her within a few steps.

"Can you do other stuff?'" asked suddenly Kira when she came up to Tara. "With magic I mean, " she added when the blonde gave her a blank look.

"Yes," she simply answered with a nod of her head.

"Where have you learnt?" went on Kira, which made Faith rolling her eyes.

"With my mother,"

Tara delivered her answer without even looking at the person she was talking to; and she did not add anything else to the great displeasure of Kira who was seemingly waiting for her to develop. Seeing nothing more coming, the young woman insisted a little more:

"So, witchcraft's a family thing?"

"Yes, that's it"

This time, Tara glanced at Kira, but she looked away almost immediately and kept quiet again. Kira opened her mouth to ask a new question, then turned to Faith who was watching the scene, half-dumbfounded, half-amused. Kira gave her a questioning look and Faith simply shrugged unknowingly. Kira gave up then to question Tara again and moved to come to Faith's side instead.

"So, Faith, what have you thought?" she asked, a perceptible ounce of hope in her voice.

Faith grinned and pretended to think about the question.

"You can help yourself and always ask questions!" she mocked as an answer.

Kira tilted her head to the side and feigned a hurt look before offering a large smile to the brunette Slayer.

"You don't have the honor to meet Faith THE slayer everyday!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. "let alone to go slaying with her!"

Faith giggled quietly and avoided carefully Kira's gaze, now embarrassed by her counterpart's so obvious admiration. After an awkward silence, she finally tried to trivialize what seemed to be such a great event to Kira:

"Y'know, I'm nothing more than you are. I'm a slayer, and you're a slayer too. Not really worth that enthusiasm"

"But you've been chosen by the first spell," Kira insisted. "And you rock!" she added in an almost ecstatic tone this time.

Faith shrugged to show her indifference, and she suppressed a half smile of pride at the last comment of her admirer.

"The spell's nothing," she replied. "And you're not too bad too" she added, turning to Kira this time.

Kira's smile got wider again at this, and her eyes shone with satisfaction, which amused Faith.

"All this for a little compliment!"

The three girls reached the hostel at that precise moment, and Tara – who had not said a word for minutes – put the key in the door lock without giving time to the trio to stop at the doorstep.

"Goodnight Kira" wished the blonde in a neutral voice while stepping inside. "Bye"

Faith for her part, waved at the other slayer and wavered a second on the doorstep before following Tara. Seeing her ready to leave, Kira went ahead:

"Are we doing that again tomorrow?" she asked, her tone half-hopeful and half-worried. "Was fun, wasn't it?"

"Why not," answered Faith, nodding her head. "We're staying for a few days, I can take the opportunity to show you some tricks of a Slayer chosen by the former spell!"

"It's fine with me" Kira answered with a joyful smile. "I'll come by here tomorrow then"

"Okay," approved Faith. "See you tomorrow"

Both slayers shared a last wave and Faith closed the hostel's door behind her while Kira was getting away in the cold winter night.


	5. Act 4

"Can I know what's the matter with her Blondie?" Faith asked Tara two days later, when the blonde squarely refused to go patrolling with the slayers one more time, after having shown cold indifference toward Kira all day long.

Both women were in their hostel room; Tara was sitting on the bed and was folding some clean clothing, while Faith was leaning against the window frame as she was used to. The night was starting to fall outside.

"What? What are you talking about?" replied the blonde, pretending not understanding at all.

Faith rolled her eyes at Tara's fake innocent look, but nevertheless went on:

"Kira. I'm talking about Kira," she clarified. "S'not that I thoroughly want you to come with us, but I don't get it, what's your problem with her?"

"I have no problem with her, " Tara protested, her tone absolutely not convincing.

"That's the reason why you never talk to her and that you hardly answer when she's talking to you?" she added a little dryly. "She's kind of nice y'know"

Tara did not answer, but she could not suppress a sulky pout, whose sense was not obvious to Faith.

"What?" the slayer shouted.

"What?" she insisted, as Tara did not answer and pretended to get absorbed in the folding of her clothes. "Talk to me Blondie"

"Since when are you interested in what I'm thinking?" Tara shrieked while looking up to Faith. "I can't remember that you asked my advice about anything one single time!"

"I'm not asking your advice," Faith approved harshly. "I'm asking you what means that little pout you've just had."

"What pout?" asked Tara, pretending not to understand once more.

"The one you did when I said she was nice" Faith clarified. "She IS nice," she repeated, stressing overly the word IS.

Tara mimicked the same pout as previously, then shrugged before answering in a mocking evident tone:

"A lonely slayer who love slaying, eating and who's filled with admiration for you?" Tara scoffed "Of course you find her nice!"

"Oh! Okay!" Faith exclaimed, not even trying to hide her irritation. "I guess it's indeed because she's a lonely slayer loving slaying and eating that YOU don't like her!"

"I've never said I didn't like her!" replied Tara. "It's just that…"

The witch appeared to search for her words, then she fell silent and her attention drifted away from Faith to come back to her clothes.

"It's just what?" Faith repeated in a exasperated tone.

"You hardly know her!" replied Tara, looking up to the slayer. "Three days with her…"

"Four days," the brunette ironically corrected, a light smile starting to play on her lips.

"Four days if you want," Tara went on as if Faith had not interrupted her. "And what are you now? Best friends in the world?"

Any trace of irritation vanished from the slayer's face to be replaced by an amused, disbelieving smile.

"That's it then?" she asked.

"That's what?"

"You're jealous!" Faith triumphantly announced. "That's why you don't like her!"

"What?" Tara said, her mouth twisted in a shocked grimace. "This is nonsense!"

"Of course it's this!" went on the slayer, whom this prospect obviously entertained a lot. "You're jealous to have to share me with someone else!"

Tara opened her mouth to answer but her throat produced no sound and she returned to her task with a shrug and a pout. Faith watched her folding and unfolding her clothes with small jerky gestures for a few minutes before going back to serious mode.

"You should take it easy Tar," she finally said. "She's cool, we're having fun and that's all. I don't plan to send her postcards afterward."

Tara rolled her eyes before looking at Faith again.

"I'm not jealous," she declared firmly. "It has nothing to do with jealousy. It's…"

"So what?" Faith cut her short as Tara was about to deliver her explanation. "There's something going on here. You've not been like that with people for a while. So what?"

Tara's mouth opened and closed again without any word while she was staring at Faith surprisingly.

"Oh please," the brunette resumed, noticing her reaction. "You know it's true. You weren't really pleasant before. Not that you are completely pleasant now, but…"

"There's something weird about her," Tara interrupted.

"Weird," Faith repeated. "She's a slayer y'know," she added, like she was not sure Tara had noticed.

Tara slightly rolled her eyes but nevertheless resumed:

"She's so friendly, so enthusiastic, so gifted, so… There's something weird."

"Why?" Faith smirked. "Because she likes me?"

"No. I like you," the witch protested, rolling her eyes again.

"Which kind of makes your point!" Faith scoffed. "You're probably the weirdest person I've ever known! And it's not like I haven't met a LOT of weird persons!"

"I see you always have a nice word to say…" Tara grumbled.

"Was a joke!" Faith laughed. "Well, do as you want. You should stay here tonight after all. And we're leaving tomorrow or the day after, so you won't hear about Kira and her weirdness anymore very soon!"

The slayer ended her sentence by getting up from the window frame where she was leaning on and she grabbed her coat on the back of the only chair in the room. She slipped it quickly on, checked there were stakes and a knife in the various pockets of the cloth, then she headed to the door.

"I'm leaving, Kira must be downstairs. Don't wait for me. I'll be back late."

Tara simply nodded and did not answer at first. As Faith was about to cross the threshold of the door, she just delivered a low "Be careful" that the slayer hardly had time to hear as she was closing the door on her.

***

"Faith! Your move!"

Kira's scream pierced the night at the same time as the dull sound of her fist punching the stomach of a vampire so violently that he was sent directly to Faith. The brunette turned round at Kira's call, and so did the vampire she was holding at arm's length. The dark-haired slayer immediately reacted and plunged the stake she was holding in her right hand right through the heart of her prey, before making the stake jump to her left hand which she used to dust the vampire sent by Kira in his turn.

"Well done!" approved Kira.

"What do you think!" Faith answered. "I'm good!"

As she finished her sentence, Faith bent over in order to avoid a vampire who was about to attack her from behind. Surprised by the slayer's move, the demon toppled over the brunette. She raised her arms above her to grab her aggressor and with a small movement of her wrists, she quickened the monster's trajectory toward Kira.

Being already busy with another vampire, the other slayer did not see nor feel him coming, and she received him in full back. She staggered both from the weight of the body and from the surprise. Her current enemy saw there a possibility to get the better of the slayer and took advantage of that short moment of weakness to violently punch her in her stomach. Kira stumbled backward and moved her hands where she had been hit, feeling badly out of breath. The vampire did not give her time to recover and went on with a high kick, which hit Kira hard in full face. Kira collapsed to the ground after having step back a few feet. The slayer immediately kneeled and instinctively touched her face where the vampire had hit her. She grimaced with pain at the contact and spat blood before giving her attacker a dark look. She nevertheless did not have time to react, as the vampire Faith had sent upon her, sneaked behind her and grabbed her two arms. He kept them both behind her back and forced her to stand. Kira grimaced once more at the twisting of her shoulder as the vampire was carelessly lifting her. She glanced at Faith, who had not moved in the slightest and did not appear to be ready to step in no way. As her gaze was coming back in front of her, she just had time to catch sight of the second vampire's fist punching her face again. Blood spurted from the corner of her now split upper lip, then flew into her mouth, and this sight twisted her opponent's face into an ugly grimace of satisfaction.

"Your friend doesn't look like she wants to come to your help, does she?" the demon commented, while Kira was fighting to get free. "What a shame!"

A new glance at Faith told Kira the vampire was telling the truth. The dark-haired slayer was watching the scene from a distance, her arms crossed over her chest, an unreadable grin on her lips.

"A real shame!" the vampire repeated.

Kira felt the grasp on her arms of the demon in her back strengthening and the vampire in front of her showed her his fangs, ready to swoop down on her and to taste her so visible jugular vein. As he was starting his movement, already delighted about the tasty blood of his victim, Kira pressed on her two feet and sent them forward, hitting her opponent's stomach with both her soles. He staggered backward upon the impact. In the same time, the slayer gave a violent head butt to the vampire who was holding her captive and got free in the process. She then found herself between the two demons, and she pivoted to her side, in order to not turn her back to any of them. The vampires exchanged a discreet head sign, before lunging at the slayer together. Taking great care of not losing sight of any of them, Kira slid each of her hands under her coat, and when the vampires arrived within her reach, she produced two stakes – one in each hand – and she staked both of the vampires at lightning speed. They fell immediately to dust without having understood what had happened to them.

"Good!" Faith happily exclaimed, coming finally toward her.

"Thank you," Kira grumbled, giving her an upset look. "And thanks for your help." she mocked.

"You didn't need my help" Faith protested.

"I know," Kira replied proudly. "But still, you hardly moved a toe when that vampire wanted to put his fangs into my carotid."

"You should take that as a proof of my trust." Faith smiled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Kira grumbled, massaging lightly her cheek. "S'nothing."

"Anyway, you would have bitched against me if I had come to help for two little vampires." Resumed the brunette.

"That's a possibility." Kira admitted. "What now?"

Both girls fell silent and looked around them, all senses in alarm. But only the discreet sound of the wind blowing between the trees could be heard. After a minute standing still in the deathly silence of the night, Faith finally casually shrugged and put her weapons back into her jacket and at her belt.

"There's nothing more." Kira said, commenting on her companion's actions.

"Yep," Faith confirmed with a nod. "It's empty."

She buttoned her jacket back and pulled up her collar, feeling the cold again on her skin, now that all action had ceased.

"I can't believe how many vampires and demons we met around here," Faith resumed after a thoughtful silence. "There's nothing here, no hellmouth around, and then, it's swarmed with monsters in that god forsaken hole."

"Do you think about something?" asked Kira as she came at Faith's side and closed her coat in her turn.

"Dunno," the other slayer replied. "But it doesn't look natural at all. I think I'll call the council tomorrow to tell them about it."

"Do you think it's necessary?"

"Don't get me wrong here, " Faith went on. "It' not that I think you can't take care of this shit all by yourself or anything like that. But still, there's probably more to it than we can see."

"Something not nice," she clarified as both slayers started to walk in the snow. "And that kind of stuff sometimes needs other people than slayers."

"As what?" Kira asked.

"Watchers. Witches. All these people with their spells and their books, who can find out what's going on. And if you're lucky, they'll send you more playing friends!"

Kira grinned and the silence fell back between the slayers.

"So, you're leaving tomorrow?" she asked a little later.

Faith nodded thoughtfully.

"To where?" Kira went on.

"Don't really know," the brunette answered. "I think we'll see at the moment. But we're probably going to go south. Tara talked about San Francisco."

"Nice town," Kira agreed.

"Already went there?"

"Some times, for the holidays."

They looked at each other for a second, each of them seemingly waiting for the other to say something more, but nothing came and they finally looked away from each other, and the silence came back between them.

The Slayers were now walking in no hurry on a dimly lit little road. It was now snowing again and their footprints were almost immediately covered with a new white layer as soon as they left them in the snow. They had both put their stake and other weapons away and walked causally with their hands in their pockets, in a notable similar way.

"What now?" asked Kira after a silence. "Wanna go back?"

"Do you want to?" Faith said, turning to her companion.

"I'm not sure," Kira answered. "I'm not tired at all. Feel more like slaying some more. Like this was just the starters."

"I see what you mean," Faith nodded. "I kinda feel the same."

They reached a stop together and looked around, obviously looking for some more preys. Their silent search stopped at the same time and they looked at each other, each girl having reached the same conclusion.

"I'm not sure we'll find any more demon to slay around here," Faith voiced their silent agreement.

"Yeah, we probably slay any demon thingy for miles and miles," Kira commented on.

"We walked for hours. We're probably pretty far from home." Faith carried on.

"You're right, we should take the road back," Kira said.

"We'll see if we find something interesting while going back."

"Yeah."

They resumed their walk in the snow, at a quicker pace this time. It was quiet for a long time, the silence only disturbed by the crunch of their steps in the snow or by the occasional sound of animals moving nearby. They had already covered a great distance to Trillium Lake when Kira finally spoke up again, getting Faith's immediate attention.

"So, why Tara hasn't come with us again?" she asked carefully.

Faith wavered a little, apparently surprised by the question. Then, she just gave a quite bored sigh and shrugged.

"Y'know, she's not action girl. More book and going-to-bed-early girl actually." She explained. "Slaying all night? Not her thing."

"So, what is she doing with you?" Kira asked. "You should get her into slaying." She added in a convinced tone.

"God, you don't know the girl!" Faith snorted. "I tried to teach her how to use a crossbow. I think we're for some years before she could hit something she actually aims at!"

"Why trying to teach her to use a crossbow?" Kira asked, her tone clearly dubious. "She's a witch for what I know. She doesn't need a crossbow to be in the field."

"She's not so much for magic," Faith said. "She's hardly using it."

"Why is that?" the other slayer asked, her voice sounding dumbfounded now.

"How would I know?" Faith exclaimed in a boring tone. "Well, she's kind of coming back a long way," she added.

"That's a shame," Kira went on thoughtfully this time. "You two could be the hell of a team together."

Faith couldn't help but snicker at this.

"Don't see how. She's not into battle at all I'm telling you." The brunette lashed, starting to loose her patience at Kira's insistence on the matter.

"Well, you know, something like she's the brains when you're the muscles. Something along this line."

"I always like when people flatters my ego like this. Thank you." Faith grumbled.

"You're welcome." Giggled Kira

"That was ironic." Faith remarked, stressing pointedly the ironic.

"I kind of figured." Kira replied. "And that was kind of a joke. But you see what I mean about the team thing."

"I'm sorry but I still don't,"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out someday," Kira said, her tone somewhat cryptic.

"Yeah," Faith answered in a dubious and bored tone, rolling her eyes in a way telling clearly she was fairly certain she would never see Kira's point about this.

Kira noticed and giggled, but she stopped insisting and kept quiet.

They walked in silence for another good thirty minutes before they finally reached the Trillium Lake banks. They stopped by the frozen lake, and contemplated its bright surface, humming the air of the cold winter night, listening to the silence.

"We won't find anything else to beat the crap out of," Faith commented, and she turned away from the lake, taking the way back to the hostel.

"I'm so disappointed," commented Kira while following Faith close. "I so don't feel like sleeping right now,"

"I know what you mean," the brunette answered. "Me neither, but what? I'm afraid there's nothing more to kill around here."

"We could find something else to do," offered Kira and she hurried to catch up with Faith.

"Something on your mind?" Faith asked.

"Well," Kira began hesitantly. "If we were in Portland or anywhere worthy of being called a city, I would suggest going to a bar or a night-club for a dance or something, but the thing is..."

"We're not anywhere worthy of being called a city," Faith finished for her.

"Right," confirmed Kira. "So, we have to be more imaginative than this."

"Any idea?" Faith asked.

She stopped walking once more and turned to face Kira who was now standing still at her side. Her fellow slayer looked thoughtful, her brows knitted in sign of focus on the matter at hand. Faith crossed her arms, decided to wait to learn what Kira was about to suggest.

"Well," Kira said, and an enigmatic light smile appeared on her lips when she looked up to Faith, an idea obviously having just struck her mind.

"I was thinking that we could..."

She took half a step closer to the brunette slayer and looked intently into her eyes. Faith frowned and she resisted the urge to step back from the sudden closeness.

"I was thinking that we could..." Kira repeated in a lower tone this time, her voice a whisper barely audible even for Faith.

"Could what?" the brunette asked in a harsher voice than she intended.

Kira's smile grew slightly larger, so slightly that Faith did not really notice. She stepped even more closer, closing the remaining distance between them, so that their noses were almost touching.

"What?" Faith breathed.

"Well, y'know..." Kira resumed in the same fashion than previously. "We could..."

She fell silent again, just staring into Faith's questioning eyes. Probably for dramatic effect.

"We could..."

Her eyes suddenly lighted up and her right fist moved at lightning speed from its dangling position along her side to try to connect with Faith's nose. Faith's eyes widened in surprise when she realized Kira was trying to hit her and she blocked the blow in her own hands just in time.

"What's the fuck?" she asked more surprisingly than angrily. "Whatcha doing?"

Kira jerked free from Faith's grasp and took a step back to get away from the other slayer. She smiled brightly at Faith before finally finishing her sentence:

"I was thinking that we could fight."

"What?" Faith asked in a dumbfounded tone. "You want to fight with me?"

"Yep," Kira replied, like it was the most natural and evident thing in the world. "I mean, you're good and I'm good. No one will dare denying that. But the thing is: ever wondered who's the best of us?"

She smirked as she finished her sentence and looked expectantly at Faith. The brunette remained silent for a while, staring at her questioningly, not totally convinced that she heard correctly what Kira had just said.

"You're kidding me, right?" she finally asked.

"Nope," Kira said, shaking her head, her smile growing larger on her face. "Absolutely not. And I'm going to repeat myself here, but: ever wondered who's the best of us?"

Saying this, she closed her fists tight, this way intending to show Faith she was serious. Faith noticed the gesture and looked at the fists and the fighting stance of the girl before meeting her eyes again.

"Never." she then replied in a resolute tone.

***

"I'm not gonna fight with you," Faith stated firmly, staring at Kira with an unusual serious look on her face. "This is not a game."

"C'mon Faith, don't play it so moralizing! It doesn't suit you!" the other slayer exclaimed ironically with a cheerful smile.

"It's not a game." Faith repeated.

"What's the matter with you?" Kira interrogated, opening her arms in front of her. "You like fighting, you can't tell otherwise, I can see it in your eyes when you beat up those demons. So what?"

"Slaying vampires is one thing, fighting a slayer is another," Faith said calmly, crossing her arms over her chest. "I won't fight with you." She added in a tone she wanted to sound confident.

"Faith, Faith…" said quietly Kira while shaking her head. "It's not like you never did it before…"

Faith was stunned for a second and she stared at Kira in a new way. Her counterpart kept smiling and resumed without giving her time to answer:

"Anyway, you have no choice,"

"There's always a choice." Faith answered in a harsher tone.

"So, when I attack you, you will let me hit you?" asked Kira in a fake questioning tone, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Try and you'll see." Faith retorted without blinking.

"It's fine with me."

Kira did not need much to go though with her threat. Without another single word, the young woman took a step and threw her fist forward to the brunette slayer. Faith easily blocked the punch and seized the other slayer's wrist and pulled the girl to her.

"Stop that while you still can," she hissed between her teeth.

"You're threatening me now?" Kira asked in a mocking tone.

"Who knows?" Faith replied in a blank voice.

"I love that," Kira concluded.

Saying this, she tried to hit Faith with her free hand. The brunette was expecting it to happen and she pushed Kira out of her reach. The young woman immediately tried again with a series punch-kick-punch and Faith understood at the decision she read in her counterpart's gaze that she would not reason with her.

"Too bad for you," She whispered in a low voice, more for herself than for her opponent.

Kira nevertheless probably heard her because a light smile appeared on her lips and she charged again at Faith. This time, the dark-haired slayer did not content herself with dodging the attack but she struck back in her turn. Kira's response was up to Faith's one violence and within only seconds, the battle between the slayers reached an outstanding intensity.

Series of straight punches right-left, high kicks, low kicks, blows with elbow or knee, back flips, somersaults, head butts, the two women did not save themselves anything, each attack outdoing the previous one in speed and violence. Each time Kira bit the dust, she always stood up stronger, more resolved than before, and Faith generally ended up lying in the snow in her turn.

But the dark-haired slayer had seen worse, and each time Kira's blows hit her, she promised herself she would show this young impudent person who was the strongest of them; and it would be her of course. If Faith had to admit that Kira forced her to draw on resources she had not needed in a long time, she had to admit too that it quite suited her.

"So Faith, not that bad finally?" said Kira, as if she could read her mind, and while giving the slayer a series of kicks that eventually sent the brunette crashing into a young tree that ended up broken in the process.

"You'll find all this far less funny when I would have smashed your face in." Faith grumbled threateningly as she stood and dried some blood pouring from her right nostril with her sleeve.

"Pissed off now?" Kira ironically asked. "And about getting my face smashed in, I'm not seeing anything coming!"

This provocation had the effect Kira was expecting. Faith lunged toward Kira like a wildcat on its prey, and the dark-haired slayer violently elbowed her counterpart's face. Kira staggered but she managed to pull herself together and replied with the same aggressiveness. In the series of blows that followed between the slayers, both of them gained the upper hand in turn, each taking then giving attacks more and more brutal.

Blows rained down on the slayers without idle time for minutes and those exchanges asked Faith way more attention, power and reactivity than the battles she fought against a dozen vampires in the last hours. To her great disappointment, she didn't manage to have a definitive upper hand on Kira, this one resisting to everything Faith inflicted on her, getting up always more threatening than previously and knocking the brunette over more and more often.

As Kira punched her once more in her lower jaw, Faith fell flat on the snowy ground and felt her lower lip split and blood oozing in her mouth. The blow had been so violently given that Faith felt as if her head had come off her body for a brief moment before finally coming back into place. Her lower jaw and her lip hurt and she felt somewhat giddy.

She sat up straight and wiped again the blood on her face with her now spotted with red stains sleeve. She stood up slowly, her hip hurting after having harshly hit the ground and taking several blows there before. She looked up at Kira who was looking at her, standing five feet from her, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Okay, you're probably the strongest slayer I've ever met," admitted Faith. "With the noteworthy exception of two." She added. "And I'm one of them." She concluded, taking a step forward.

It did not impress Kira at all, and she even smiled brightly at the brunette.

"You're giving yourself way too much credit," the young woman replied with a true confidence in her attitude. "You may be strong, but you're no match for me."

"We'll see,"

"It's done!" Kira exclaimed while punching Faith so quickly that the dark-haired slayer did not have time to ward off and ended up lying on the ground again.

Faith stood and cast a questioning glance at Kira. How could she be so fast? Faith did not have time to search for an answer at her question. Kira was again on her, and once again, Faith could dodge only one out of every two blows. And her counterattacks were becoming more and more imprecise under the pressure Kira was putting on her.

"So Faith, cat lost your tongue?" mocked the other slayer. "You don't have time for more one-liners anymore? Or you're missing energy?"

She made a double jumping kick, which hit the brunette in her stomach on the one hand, and on her face on the other hand; and once again Faith fell into the snow, which became spotted with red when the slayer's face touched the ground. Faith spat some more blood and stood with difficulty and a glimmer of rage in her eyes. She was hardly on her feet when Kira sent her to the ground again with a new series of punches and kicks too fast for Faith to avoid every blow. Faith did not get up immediately and this time, Kira did not wait for her to do so to get closer to her. As she came up to her and was about to bend over the dark-haired slayer, ready to strike her again, Faith violently hit Kira's tibia with her sole and tripped her up with her other leg. Kira let escape a discreet surprised shout, toppled over and fell onto Faith. The brunette caught her wrists and pushed her aside in order to put her on her back on the ground and stepped over her. She then started to beat her up with undisguised wild joy. But her success did not last for long, as Kira was really resourceful. The young woman put one of her arms up across Faith's blows and seized the top of the dark haired slayer's sweater; then she pushed on her legs at the same time she pulled on Faith's collar to push her and threw her above her head. Faith crashed head first into the trunk of a tree five feet from there.

"You're resourceful," Kira said while jumping to her feet and drying some blood at the corner of her lips with the back of her hand. "But it won't be enough."

She walked over to Faith who was struggling to stand.

"If you want to get the better of me while you're still in one piece, you should call your friend the witch. Maybe being two, you'd got a better chance."

Faith snickered at this comment and she finally got to her feet.

"Calling Tara? You're kidding me?" she mocked.

"She could help you," replied Kira in an evident tone.

"The day I need Tara for anything ass-kicking related is not about to rise."

"Believe me, if you don't call her, you won't see any day rising anymore."

"You're crazy."

"Call her," Kira repeated in an imperious tone while stepping closer to the brunette slayer.

Faith tittered but her past serenity was started to weaken. Something in Kira's attitude was telling her she was not joking.

"You were a lot more fun some hours ago." She commented. "Tara was right, you're weird."

"Call her," Kira ordered again.

"What do you want from her? You want her to throw fireballs at you so that you can avoid them as if you were in a sideshow?" Faith exclaimed in a mocking but nevertheless humor-free tone.

"Why not," Kira replied seriously. "It would liven up the good hiding I'm giving you."

"Believe me, I don't need her." Faith stated in a dark tone.

"Believe me, just the opposite." Kira retorted. "So what? Why wouldn't she have the right to have some fun too? Not only slayers can be fun you know. Some fireballs would liven things up around here."

"You really are a nut job."

"If you don't call her, I'll get her myself." Kira said, ignoring Faith's comment. "Maybe you'd rather I get her myself? Probably easier for your excessive ego?"

"Leave Tara off your madness," Faith growled threateningly.

"And you, you should really include her in your fights instead of treating her like an incompetent."

"I don't need her!" Faith bellowed, suddenly beside herself. "I don't need her to kick a nut job's ass like yours!"

"Wanna bet?" Kira ironically asked.

Saying this, she warded off a series of kicks that Faith was delivering with renewed energy.

"Throwing all your might into battle?" Mocked Kira, nevertheless stepping back. "You…"

Faith's elbow perfectly placed between her nose and the top of her mouth shut her up and she cursed in her breath. Faith did not have to wait for her reaction; Kira gave Faith each blow back, forcing her to step back in her turn. While retreating, the dark-haired slayer taped into what little strength left she had to pick up the trunk of a young fallen tree and tried to use this improvised weapon against Kira whose energy and healing capacity seemed to never run out. But none of the super-powered blows Faith gave with her new weapon, managed to weaken Kira.

While stepping back under the pressure her dangerous counterpart was putting on her, Faith suddenly stumbled backward, her foot hitting a rock hidden in the snow. She managed to keep her hold on her tree trunk as she fell, but Kira made it jump from her hands with a powerful kick. Kira then lunged at Faith before she had time to get out of Kira's way and the other slayer pressed her forearm on the brunette's neck while her other arm held Faith's shoulder down. Faith's head limply hit the snowy ground under her, and the dark-haired slayer felt the cold freeze her to the bones. She tried to struggle and to push Kira away, but the other slayer's strong grip was more powerful than any Faith had already experienced.

"So, still convinced you don't need to call Tara?" Kira asked in a strangely blank tone.

"Still convinced," Faith uttered with difficulty, even trying to add a smirk to her composure.

"It's a shame, I'll do it myself then." Kira announced.

She then tried to slide her right hand into Faith's jacket pocket, probably looking for the young woman's cell phone.

"Leave her out of this!" Faith screamed in a muffled voice.

She bucked with all her might and this time managed to free herself; she put her two soles on Kira's stomach and sent her flying a few feet away. Faith made the most of this calmer moment to stand up back with difficulty and to turn on her heels as fast as she could in the hostel's opposite direction. She had barely covered two dozens feet when she took a violent kick at the bottom of her right leg and fell again. She held back a cry of pain and the pain was so acute that she wondered if her leg was broken as she rolled on her back in order to face her attacker. She did not have time to try her leg to check if it was borken or not, as Kira was already on her, preventing her from standing up. She tried once more to reach Faith's pocket where the slayer kept her cell phone, but the brunette was faster than her. Before Kira could do anything, Faith shattered it between her fingers. The cell phone ominously cracked and fell into pieces in the already spattered with Faith's blood snow.

"It's between you and me," the dark-haired slayer breathed. "Only you and me."

Kira considered what remained of the cell phone in the snow and grimaced.

"Too bad for you," she whispered.


	6. Act 5

There was total silence around the hostel where Faith and Tara had been living for a few days. Neither the slightest move nor the slightest sign of wind seemed to be about to disturb the quietness of the hostel's tenants. No light was switched on inside the hostel. Everyone was sleeping like a log at this very late hour in the night.

Tara was no exception to that rule, despite the light that the moon – gibbous that night – diffused in the small room. If her body briefly shook and winced from time to time, if her face grimaced in her sleep, it was nothing the blonde witch was not used to. That night, Tara Maclay's sleep was as calm and restful as it could possibly be.

She nevertheless awoke all of a sudden.

No sound had pierced the night. No light had been switched on. But Tara found herself suddenly sitting in her bed, her heart racing. She stretched her hand in front of her and saw it trembled. She looked fearfully around her, looking for what could have woken her. She carefully listened, being perfectly still with her arms wrapped around her knees. After spending minutes without moving, she got up slowly and got closer to the window. She looked out carefully. The surroundings were deserted. And the immaculate blanket of snow as far as the eye could see told her that no one had gone for a walk under her window for hours. She moved on tiptoe as silently as she could to the room's door and listened again. But the hostel was still perfectly silent. Tara sighed and returned to sit in her bed where she was happy to find the blankets' warmth again. After a new silent minute to wait without anything happening, Tara had to admit that nothing external had awoken her. She probably had one of those nightmares she was used to. They may have happened much less often than before, it happened that they came back to her sleep without warning.

She decided to finish her night and lay down again. She turned in the sheets and her eyes met the clock radio. It displayed four am and thirty-eight minutes. Tara stared at the numbers for a moment, forcing herself to remember Faith telling her not to wait for her, that she would come back late. She turned to the other side, resolute to go back to sleep.

But sleep would not come.

A heavy anxiety clutched her. And despite all her efforts to reason with herself, she could not make it quiet. She turned in the bed once more to face the alarm clock. Four am and forty-three minutes now. Tara looked at the numbers scrolling until the minutes showed fifty. Her heart was beating wildly and she felt her instinct telling her that something was wrong. Sleeping was not an option anymore.

Tara threw the blankets away and got up. She switched the room's light on after groping for the switch. She collected her clothes – an old pair of jeans, a blue long-sleeved tee-shirt, un thick white woolen sweater, both bought in a frippery in Montana – and she got dressed quickly. She then slipped on her shoes and her coat, which she buttoned with her more and more trembling hands. In Faith's stuff, she looked for a stake and a knife she slid into her coat. Blood was now beating hard in her temples and the blonde witch felt an undefined but nevertheless vital emergency oppressing her.

Being more and more in a hurry, she did not even lock the room door and she hurtled down the stairs of the hostel, nevertheless taking care not to awake the others inhabitants. When she was finally outside, she paused in front of the door, caught by the freezing cold. Then she began to walk, walking quickly on the snowy and deserted road. She was under the impression she did not need to think where to go: her feet seemed to work for themselves, leading her where she had to go: finding Faith. Without knowing why, Tara was sure that something had happened to her friend and she had to go and help her while it was still time. This certainty grew with each step she took, so that she quickened her pace until running along the road, then on the forest's lanes. Her running leaded her on the Trillium lake banks.

The blonde slowed then finally came to a stop upon discovering the scene under her eyes.

Faith was lying in the snow, leaning on her elbows, her hair tousled, her nose swollen, her jeans torn, her wide opened jacket allowing to see her sweater spotted with more or less fresh stains of blood. She looked exhausted, being at the mercy of a threatening Kira, who brandished a branch that served as a makeshift weapon above the dark-haired slayer.

***

"Faith!" Tara shrieked, seeing her in such a bad situation.

The sound of her voice interrupted Kira's gesture and both slayers turned to her at the same time.

"Tara!" Faith cried with a hint of panic in her voice when she caught sight of her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"At last! We were about to wait for you!" Kira mocked, lowering her arm that was threatening Faith the moment before.

"Go away!" Faith screamed as Kira threw away the branch she was using as a weapon before turning to Tara.

The blonde's eyes were roaming both young women in turn, and she was obviously trying to understand what was taking place under her very eyes.

As Kira was about to take a step forward toward the witch, Faith stretched her leg and tripped Kira up. The young woman stumbled and tried to catch herself, but Faith prevented her from doing so by jumping at her back.

"Go away Tara!" she screamed again. "Go away!"

But Tara did not comply with the slayer's plea and remained still staring at the scene, to Faith's great disappointment.

"Go aw…" Faith shouted once more, but a punch back from Kira hitting her in full mouth interrupted her order.

Despite the dark-haired slayer weight on her back, Kira managed to stand up back and threw Faith away ridiculously easily.

All of a sudden, everything made sense for Tara.

Faith got up as fast as she could to try to attack Kira again, but this time, Tara's voice interrupted her:

"Faith, step away from her," the blonde ordered in a somewhat faltering voice.

"What?" Faith said, frowning. "What are you talking about?"

"Step away from her," Tara resumed. "She's not a slayer."

"What?" Faith said again, still not understanding, while an elusive smile appeared on Kira's lips.

"She's not a slayer," repeated Tara. "She's a witch."

Faith's mouth opened wide at this, and she looked between Kira and Tara, as if searching a proof of what the blonde witch had just said.

"How wonderfully observant you are!" Kira sniggered. "It's taken you some time to realize! But who can blame you after all? I'm quite good at hiding myself."

"So that's true? You're a witch?" Faith asked, her tone unbelieving, angry and disappointed all at the same time.

"Don't be so disappointed, Faith," Kira said, turning to her. "See, I told you that witches could be fun too."

"A witch…" Faith repeated, as if to convince herself and now staring at Kira from head to toes.

"Of course," Kira replied in an evident tone. "How do you think all those vampires an demons came here? Do you think they really are the kind of guys who hide themselves away on the banks of Trillium Lake?"

"You made them come?" Faith exclaimed.

"I made some of them come, I created some others. It's a mix. Vampires are so stupid."

Faith was openly dumbfounded by the reveal.

"But why?" she whispered thoughtfully, seemingly thinking to her own question.

"It's kind of boring around here y'know," Kira explained casually. "I couldn't believe my chance when I found you both. A slayer and a witch. How could I find better things to have some fun?"

"You're playing weird games." Faith harshly commented.

"What do you think? It's often what happens when practicing too much magic! Why do you think your goody-goody friend doesn't practice more often?"

"Not wanting to play the slayer when she's bored is indeed a very good reason," Faith coldly answered. "Who do you think you are? Being a slayer is not a game, it's not a choice."

"Stop being all moralizing, it doesn't suit you at all! You were having fun a little while ago!"

"Faith…" Tara tried to interrupt.

"Mixing some pleasure with the job is not a crime as far as I know!" Faith replied to Kira without noticing the blonde. "Its not a game though!"

"Faith…" repeated Tara.

"If you go on like this, you'll end up telling me the part about the sacred side of the mission Faith," Kira mocked, not noticing Tara as well. "You really should stop before being really ridicu…"

Kira couldn't finish her sentence. Faith had just pounced on her. Kira did not avoid the attack and stumbled backward. But she managed to catch herself with one hand and turned back so quickly that Faith finally found herself under the other girl.

Tara shrieked in horror when she saw Kira getting rid of the dark-haired slayer with only a few blows, and she raised her hand as if to interfere but the words died on her lips at the moment she was about to cast her spell.

"So what? You're doing nothin'?" Kira asked in a mocking tone, standing up and then turning to her. "You're a witch and you don't even try a little spell to help your friend?"

She took a step toward Tara and her right hand started to glow with an unreal greenish light.

"So, Tara?"

"Leave her alone!" Faith screamed, throwing herself into her feet to interrupt her walk toward the blonde.

But Kira did not get caught this time and she pushed Faith way by kicking her in full face, which elicited a new shriek from Tara.

"So, Tara?" Kira repeated. "I'm pretty sure you're a surprising girl."

"I don't do that kind of magic," the blonde replied. "I never did."

"Oh please, I'm sure you know some tricks. We all do, even if mom always told us not to poke our noses into that kind of things."

Saying this, Kira was slowly walking toward the blonde and was raising her right hand that was shining with the same dark green light than previously.

"Dark magic is dangerous!" Tara cried out. "You should have listened to you mother, you wouldn't have fallen in this!"

"It's dangerous for those who are unable to know their own limits and let themselves be consumed by their ambition." Kira retorted.

Tara gritted her teeth at this remark and stepped back a little to put some distance between the other witch and herself.

"And I know mines very well," Kira resumed with a hint of pride in her voice. "Are you afraid to override yours and to be consumed by dark magic fever?" she added in a sarcastic tone.

"Never." Tara coldly replied.

Kira gave a half-smile and stretched her arm forward, releasing a bolt of light that Tara avoided by nimbly throwing herself on the side. Kira did not give her time to stand up and did the same thing again. The blonde witch rolled on her side and did it once more when Kira attacked her a third time. Tara perfectly knew that Kira did not really try to hurt her, her attacks being neither fast nor precise enough, and always giving the blonde time to react.

"C'mon Tara, that night started out so well, let's finish it in great style, pit yourself against me!"

Kira then gestured with her wrist while mumbling a few words and a wind started to blow around the blonde witch. It seemed that it came out from the ground and it whipped violently Tara's face as it took snow crystals, pile of dirt and small pieces of branches along. Tara put her hand across her face to protect herself.

"Will you tell me what you want?" she cried out when the effect of the spell had vanished.

"Playing with one of my kind…" whispered Kira upon bending over Tara.

Tara jumped at the witch's sudden closeness and stepped back as fast as she could, which obviously entertained Kira a lot. Tara got up quickly, took a step back again and looked for Faith. The slayer was still lying on the ground and was trying to recover.

"You know you make me a liar, Tara?" Kira said. "I told Faith that witches too could be fun. What do I have to do for you to deign to take part in this? Do I have to threaten to cut Faith's throat?"

Saying this, Kira turned to the slayer before looking at Tara again.

"Incendire!" the blonde screamed while raising her hand toward Kira.

This time, a tiny fireball flew away from Tara's hand toward the other witch. But it did not impress Kira in the slightest and the back of her hand was enough to make the flames disappear.

"Nothing better?" mocked Kira. "I'm not a vampire and I just did a slayer. You gotta find something better."

Tara visibly turned pale and she glanced toward Faith. The slayer seemed to have trouble to recover.

"Don't count on her," Kira said, noticing the gesture. "I'm a witch, a pretty good one. She can't do anything against me."

"You are really burying me too fast for my own taste," Faith said, finally getting up. "I hate this."

"Give it up Faith," replied Kira. "We're done."

"No, we're not."

Faith attacked Kira again, and threw one her short dagger with all her might in the witch's back direction. Kira did not move to dodge the weapon and just raised her right hand's index finger in front of her.

"Reverso." She whispered.

The dagger immediately stopped dead in the air and turned back to fly in the opposite direction at much quicker pace.

"Tego!" Tara shouted as soon as Kira had cast the spell, understanding all at once what would happen.

While shouting, she gestured to the bit of trunk used as a weapon by both Faith and Kira previously, and it rose in the air immediately and moved in the dagger's trajectory, just in front of Faith. The dagger stuck itself in the wood with a ringing sound.

"Not bad!" Kira complimented. "You see that you can! How about a little more?"

But Tara did not seem to be willing to obey. She remained still, staring at Kira with a cold decision shining in her eyes.

"Magic is not a game," she said. "You shouldn't play with it like that."

"Ok," replied Kira, and Tara arched an eyebrow, surprised with this answer she was not expecting. "I see."

"I see the kind of motivation you need." Kira added just after.

She then turned back to Faith who was trying to make the most of the witch's distraction to discreetly come closer to her. As Faith's fist was rising above her, Kira raised her two hands in front of her and her eyes misted over with blackness a brief instant as she whispered an incantation. The dark-haired slayer gesture was then stopped dead and a glimmer of surprise passed in Faith's eyes as she tried to move without succeeding.

As Kira was about to raise her arm toward the slayer once more, either to punch her or to cast a spell on her, Tara's voice interrupted her:

"Dissolvo!" the blonde cried out, opening her hand toward the other witch.

Kira turned back to her and took a quick step in her direction, in the process getting closer to the energy bolt Tara had sent. When the bolt came up to Kira, she simply opened her hand and the bolt appeared to simply settle in it. She smirked at Tara, then turned around again and extended the flight of the blonde's bolt toward Faith, much quickly than the bolt has been formerly sent. Both friends' eyes widened in horror, and Faith tried to move in vain.

"No!" Tara screamed as her own spell hit her friend in full chest.

Faith spat blood and fell forward but could catch herself on her forearms, her muscles working again.

"C'mon, all this is so weak, Tara!" Kira said, walking over to the dark-haired slayer. "You really believe you can protect yourself, protect you both against me with a dissolvo as white as snow?"

"I don't do dark magic!" Tara cried out in despair.

"You must know some spells more fun to counter, mustn't you?" Kira begged.

She had just arrived at Faith's side as the slayer was again getting up with much difficulty. The brunette gave a hint of a protecting gesture as she had not completely stood yet, but it was not fast enough to counter the witch's attack. After pushing the slayer back to the ground, Kira stepped over her body, bent forward and grabbed Faith's dark hair with her left hand and pulled it to make the young woman kneel. Faith tried to make her let go of her, but her efforts seemed to be as useless as every spell Tara had cast until then.

"So, Tara, what do you think? Spell or death?" Kira said while raising her hand above Faith's head. "The choice is simple."

"You wouldn't go that far," Tara challenged her.

"Would you bet her life?" Kira answered as quick as a flash. "Or her mental health?" she added the second after with a vicious smile.

Tara turned paler and her eyes went several times from Faith's crazed gaze to Kira's fevered one.

"Why are you doing that?" Tara asked in a shaking voice. "I'm no match for you! I don't have enough power!"

"I know you can't beat me!" Kira replied in an evident tone. "It doesn't mean you can't be a somewhat interesting opponent! You've been practicing magic since you're little, you must have a little something interesting for me!"

"I don't!" Tara replied in a loud voice. "Leave us alone! Haven't you had enough fun already?"

Saying this, Tara was showing Faith, who was still struggling, both to try to free herself from Kira's grasp and to contain the pain she felt.

"I'm going to count to five," Kira said, totally ignoring what Tara had just said. "When I'm done, I'll cast a spell on Faith. It's up to you to prevent me from succeeding."

"Stop that! Go fight people who can compete with you! Have you ever heard about Willow Rosenberg?" the blonde screamed, her voice filled with anger this time.

Kira let escape a small laugh at Willow's name.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" she harshly retorted. "As I told you, I know my limits. I don't want to become like her."

"So you're a coward?" replied Tara. "You prefer to attack people weaker than you are, don't you?"

Kira did not answer and shook her head.

"Save your breath," she spat. "And your energy as well. I hope you've chosen the spell you're going to cast."

She took a break and raised her right again above Faith's head and visibly tightened her grip on the slayer's hair. A green light emanated from her hand and a small brilliant star appeared in her palm.

"One…" she began.

Tara understood she would not manage to reason with Kira. She had no other choice than obey the witch's injunctions.

"Two…" Kira chimed.

Tara's brain was working at full speed. She had to find a spell powerful enough to take Kira away from Faith. The dark-haired slayer appeared to be about to loose consciousness.

"Three…"

Kira's hand went a little higher and the light in her hand became brighter. Tara made her choice. She had not needed to search for too long. Her knowledge regarding offensive spells was not extensive. And among the spells she knew, rare were those she was able to cast quickly without any external accessory.

"Four…"

Kira's right hand turned, her palm now directed to the slayer's skull, and went down slowly. Tara began to chant the words of a spell in Latin, as quick as possible, but taking great care not to be mistaken with the spell's words.

Kira was staring at the blonde and she appeared to simply wait to see what Tara was about to do.

"Five."

Kira's word sounded like a sentence to Tara's ears and the light in her hand became dazzling as it came closer and closer of the slayer, whose face writhed in pain and in a strange mix of fear and resignation.

Tara chanted the last words of the spell and a streak of glowing dark energy flew from her fingertips toward Kira and Faith. She caught sight of Kira's expecting expression turning into a cruel, victorious smirk and could not help shivering in apprehension but there was nothing more she could do.

Kira's fingers released their strong grip on Faith's hair even before Tara's energy hit her. Faith's body fell to the snowy ground with a flat muffled sound. Tara hardly let escape a sigh of relief when she saw the brunette being freed. Before she even had time to fully realize, Kira was suddenly right in front of her and Tara had no clue how she had gotten so close to her within a second. A feeling of dread suddenly squeezed at her heart and for a brief moment, she found herself unable to breathe.

Kira was looking at her in the eye, the grin that had appeared at the moment Tara had unleashed her spell on her, now wider and openly plastered on her face. A satisfied grin. A grin of victory. Of contentment. Of accomplishment. An inside voice was screaming to Tara to back up, to run away from Kira's reach. But Tara could not move. She felt as if Kira's gaze upon her had transformed her into a statue. A living, breathing statue. But a statue all the same.

She saw Kira's hand extending toward her chest, barely visible as it was glowing with dark red deep energy. Tara immediately recognized the sign of dark magic and nearly felt nauseous and sick but escaping wasn't a possibility anymore. She felt strands of sweat forming at her temples and at the nape of her neck. Which suddenly turned cold when Kira's palm touched Tara's chest. The blonde witch looked horrified at the glowing hand on her skin and her eyes grew impossibly wide when she thought she saw Kira's hand pushing in under her skin and inside her body. It was impossible she thought, but then the burning ache in her chest was telling her otherwise. She felt like everything was leaving her: her strength, her magic, her will. She wanted to scream in agony but only a raw rattling got out of her constricted throat. Her legs buckled under her and she slowly slid to the ground. She thought Kira held her stood for a moment, using her grip in her chest, like she was tearing at her heart and Tara nearly fainted, but the second after, her knees touched the cold ground, shortly followed by her hands and arms and torso and head.

She was so weak that she was even unable to look up when she heard Kira's muffled, exited voice.

"Great! Oh Goddess, Tara, this feels so good! I'm sure you have no idea how good you feel! These days have been the best in my life since..."

The silence followed and Tara figured Kira wavered, probably giving thought to the matter.

"Whatever," she finally said. "In a long time."

She went on rambling alone but Tara wasn't listening anymore. She wasn't hearing anymore to be more precise. Kira's voice had become a far away whisper which sense she couldn't clearly make out. Her legs and arms were numb, the excruciating pain she had felt before was starting to fade away. Was she dying? For a second, she wished she remembered how it had felt to die the first time. To check if she was dying right now.  
But it had been so sudden. It had taken her by surprise. Nothing to do with the way she was allowing herself to slowly slide into unconsciousness now. If she closed her eyes and didn't try too hard to breathe, it could be over so soon...

"You and Faith have been so perfect toys to play with," she heard among the mist that had been Kira's words for a while.

She didn't know why she had mastered to understand this sentence in particular, but a word struck at her ears and made her come back to her senses as if one had thrown a bucket of cold water on her face.

Faith.

Faith was the reason she had come there in the first place.

She had come to help Faith.

Faith was hurt.

She had to help her.

Tara tried to gather what little strength left she had. She raised her head with big difficulty and tried to make out Faith's figure through her blurred vision. It took her several seconds to take sight of the brunette Slayer, still lying in the snow a few feet from her. The blonde tried to sit up but she just couldn't.

She had to. Faith wasn't moving. She was at least hurt. Maybe worse. Tara had to go to her, to check on her, to help her if possible. She felt tears of despair forming at the corners of her eyes as she failed once more to sit.

"F-faith..." she tried to call the slayer and her voice sounded so weak and low she was sure Faith couldn't hear her despite her enhanced senses.

"Faith..." she repeated, trying to get louder but her friend's name sounded more like a desperate rattle.

Tara tried again to sit or to stand but her legs wouldn't obey her command. She felt so weak...  
She looked up to her friend once more and watched her blurred figure for a few moments, hoping somehow that the incredible slayer would just regain consciousness, would just stand and finally kick Kira's ass. It was the way things always ended with Faith, right?

But not this time obviously. The brunette still did not move and Tara's great fear that Kira had killed her rushed in her head. She had to go to her, to reach her, to help her. Maybe it wasn't too late.  
She tried to stand again with no more luck. In a desperate attempt, the blonde pushed on her arms and started to crawl in the snow toward her friend. She stopped a brief instant upon hearing Kira's mocking voice.

"Isn't it touching?" the brown-haired witch snickered.

Tara shivered, both from cold and fear. She had forgotten the other witch's presence for a moment, disoriented as she was by her attack. She turned apprehensively her head toward her. But Kira didn't look threatening at all anymore. She was casually sitting on a fallen tree's trunk and appeared to just watch and enjoy the scene in front of her. Tara hesitantly tore her gaze off her. She decided to forget about Kira for the time being and resumed her crawling to Faith.

When she finally reached the still slayer, Tara noticed at once her wide opened eyes and she felt her stomach violently squeezing in her chest. Faith's nose and lips were bleeding and her face was bruised. Her jacket was torn. Tara's first move was to check on the Slayer's pulse. She sighed with relief when she felt it and saw the brunette was breathing. She gently lifted Faith's neck with her arm and lightly shook the girl by the shoulder.

"Faith, talk to me," she breathed. "Tell me something, anything."

She got neither response, nor any reaction at all.

"Faith," she implored in a begging tone. "Talk to me."

She checked for the pulse once more and found it again.

"Faith," she repeated and her voice broke a little, as the slayer still didn't answer.

"It's useless," Said suddenly Kira in a casual voice. "She won't reply."

Tara turned slowly her head toward the other witch. She was still on her tree and wasn't even looking at Faith and Tara, as she looked engrossed in her own hands contemplation.

"Why is that?" Tara asked in a weak but nevertheless stutter-free voice. "What have you done to her?"

Kira looked up and stood. She walked to the girls and Tara began to shake as she approached. The brown-haired girl stopped beside both friends and smirked as she took sight of Faith.

"Don't be so afraid," Kira casually told Tara when she noticed how much the blonde was shaking. "You've got nothing left I'm interesting in."

"Wh-what have you done to her?" Tara repeated. "Have you put a spell on her?"

Kira's smile got wider and she shrugged. She let escape a long-suffering sigh before replying.

"You're a witch from what little I know. You'll figure it out yourself."

With that, she turned on her heels and started to get away, leaving a dumbfounded Tara behind. The blonde looked at Faith again. Nothing had changed in the slayer's state.

"Kira!" Tara called as loud as she could when she realized the other witch was leaving. "Come back! Undo it!"

"Kira!" the blonde shouted again a few seconds later as the young woman wasn't replying her calls.

"That's your job, girl!" Kira exclaimed, waving above her shoulder without even turning to Tara. "Have faith, you'll find a way!"

"Kira! Please!" Tara begged, feeling panic overwhelming her. "Please come back!"

But Kira didn't. She resumed her casual walk and Tara helplessly watched her retreating between the saplings.

"Good luck!" was the last thing she heard from the other witch as she finally disappeared from the blonde's sight.


	7. Epilogue

The streets of Portland, Oregon, were almost deserted. It was slightly snowing, few sparse snowflakes that well decorated street lamps were lighting up. Only a few passersby were still hurrying outside for the end of this evening. Among them, a limping but decided figure was walking alone with her head raised to the street numbers hanging on each building and was obviously looking for something. He finally turned in a narrow, darker street between two buildings made of red bricks. He walked for about a hundred and fifty feet and finally stopped in front of the door of a bar whose name was written in half-luminous letters and read **"**Offway**". **The person pushed the door of the bar and a lively Latino kind of song welcomed him. A few couples were dancing on a dance floor in front of a stage where a very pretty dark-haired woman was singing with her musicians. In front of the entrance door, several clients were sitting at very long and very well lit taproom and were watching either the singer or the dancers.

The newcomer, who was indeed a woman, put down the collar of her coat and headed at a limping pace toward a narrow opening on the right of the bar, which leaded to another room that was much quieter than the first one. The young woman freed her long curly brown hair from her coat and looked around her. There were only a taproom and some booths and the room was so dimly lit and quiet that someone not used to this kind of places could have found the ambiance to be quite chilling.

But it was not Kira's case. The young woman finally spotted what she was searching and she thrust her hands in her coat's pockets before heading to the darker end of the taproom. She sat on a barstool and ordered a glass of whisky with cherry coke to the bartender as he came to her. He came back quickly with the beverage, served into a large square glass with ice and a colorful straw. Kira considered that the straw was useless and threw it away before slowly drinking two mouthfuls.

"At last," said suddenly someone to her right, the voice being probably concealed with a scarf or something like that. "I was starting to think you would never come."

Kira did not even turn to the person who was talking to her and took the time to drink another mouthful before answering:

"I like when people are waiting for me," she replied in a neutral tone.

"What have taken you so much time?" resumed the other. "Five days is quite long. I thought you were more efficient."

"I've been strikingly efficient." Grumbled Kira. "I just did it my way."

"You are quite messed up." Remarked the person, who was obviously amused.

Kira lay one of her hand on her face and gently felt the bottom of her right eye, her swollen cheekbones and her split lips.

"That's what's good about being a slayer," she said. "I'm sure Faith is already healing from her wounds whereas mine are only starting to appear."

"The effect of the magic is fading?"

"Yeah," Kira answered. "And as I had to get on a very high dose to compete with that tigress, it's all the more tough now."

"Your healing will take days," said the other, and his tone made clear the person was smiling.

"Looks like you find that funny," grumbled Kira.

"I warned you," simply answered the person she was talking to.

The silence fell while Kira was drinking again.

"I have been told you made good impression," resumed the voice.

Kira snorted to that.

"I knew you were spying on me," she said. "Don't trust me?"

"Of course I do," answered the other in an offended tone. "I was just curious to see how you will go about it."

"Did you like the show?"

"The 'trying to make friends' part wasn't necessary in my opinion."

"Don't worry, I highly doubt that Faith would send me postcards for Christmas."

"It feels like it saddens you."

"She's nice."

"You shouldn't have any regret." The other tried to comfort. "Faith is not really interested in friendship."

Kira opened her mouth to answer something, but she finally refrained herself and shrugged.

"If you say so,"

"What about Tara?" asked the voice.

"It's hard to tell," Kira answered, shrugging again. "She's too shy. And she didn't like me. But it took her more time than I thought to realize that I'm a witch myself."

"I've been told that you mishandled her a little,"

"Wasn't my intention," the young woman replied. "I don't like to mishandle witches of her kind."

"It is quite surprising of you. Except if the fact that you are related bothers you?"

"Related? What do you mean related?" grumbled Kira.

"She comes from a family where women are witches for generations and I do believe, it is your case too. You probably have some relative in common somewhere."

"Yeah! Probably!" Kira exclaimed in an ironic tone. "Everyone knows that every witches are sisters!"

"Well, let's get down to business," she resumed a second after in a serious tone. "I haven't dragged myself around here to chit chat with you. Do you have what you owe me?"

"What would you do if I don't?"

"I'd show you right here right now how good I am as a slayer."

"You're in no fit state for that." Retorted the person she was talking to.

"Well, then I'd call Faith to tell her that you paid me. And I'd tell her where she could find you. I'm sure she would be more than happy to take care of you herself."

"Are you sure they don't suspect anything?" the other suddenly asked, completely ignoring Kira's threat, but now a little worried about his question.

"Of course they don't suspect anything." Replied Kira in an evident tone. "I'm an outstanding actress. If I wasn't working for people like you, I could make it to Hollywood!"

"If you take a new departure, be sure to tell me," answered the person she was talking to, her tone making clear the person was smiling.

"I'll think about it." Kira said. "And don't worry, they don't suspect anything, all their hatred is for me and me only." she added in a more serious tone.

"You should try not to meet Faith again." Advised the other.

There was then the sound of folded paper and a gloved hand appeared from the darkness holding a white large envelope out to the witch.

"You worked well. Here is your reward."

Kira took the envelope and opened it. It was filled with several wads of bills that the witch conscientiously counted

"Don't trust me?" asked her contact, mimicking her own question a little sooner.

"Of course I do," replied Kira ironically. "But I like counting."

When she was done, she carefully closed the envelope and slipped it in an inside pocket of her coat. Then she finished her glass in one go, stood up and started to close the buttons of her coat.

"What are you going to do now?" asked the voice.

"I'll stay in Portland for a day or two," Kira answered. "I'll take advantage of these days to visit my mother who must be turning in her grave by the way. Then I'll get back home."

She finished to button her coat and turned to the shadow of the person she was talking to for the first time.

"If you need me again, you know where to find me," She concluded. "Goodbye."

The other did not answer anything but waved slightly and Kira hardly noticed in the darkness. The witch turned on her heels and crossed the bar up to the exit. In the main room, people were still having a very good time.

Once outside, Kira glanced one last time at the blinking sign above the door of the bar. Then she thrust her hands into her pockets and went away slowly, her limping increasing with each step, and she eventually vanished in the night.

* * *

_End of 'Dark deeds'  
To be continued in 'Insights'..._

Hope you enjoyed this one, please let me know what you think about it!_  
_


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